Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515 by Charles William Chadwick Oman File:The art of war in the Middle Ages, A. D. 378-1515 (1885) (14761125144).jpg. View Book Page : Book Viewer About This Book : Catalog Entry View All Images : All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: s. The duke might range hismen in order of battle, but he could not be sure that they wouldfight. The old proverb that God was on the side of theConfederates was ever ringing in their ears, and so they werehalf beaten before a blow was struck. Charles had endeavouredto secure the efficiency of his army, by enlisting from each war-like nation of Europe the class of troops for which it wascelebrated. The archers of England, the arquebusiers ofGermany, the light cavalry of Italy, the pikemen of Flanders,marched side by side with the feudal chivalry of his Burgundianvassals. But the duke had forgotten that, in assembling so manynationalities under his banner, he had thrown away the cohesionwhich is all-important in battle. Without mutual confidence orcertainty that each comrade would do his best for the commoncause, the soldiery would not stand firm. Granson was lost ^ Yet even the Duke said, that Against the Swiss it will never do tomarch unprepared. Panagirola, quoted by Kirk, vol. iii. Text Appearing After Image: -A.D. 1515.) THE SWISS, 83 merely because the nerve of the infantry failed them at thedecisive moment, although they had not yet been engaged. In that fight the unskilful generalship of the Swiss had placedthe tactical advantages on the side of Charles: he had both out-flanked them and attacked one division of their army before theothers came up. He had, however, to learn that an armysuperior in morale and homogeneity, and thoroughly knowingits weapon, may be victorious in spite of all disadvantages.Owing to their eagerness for battle the Confederate vanguard(vorhut), composed of the troops of Bern, Freiburg, andSchwytz, had far outstripped the remainder of the force.Coming swifdy over the hill side in one of their usual deepcolumns, they found the whole Burgundian army spread outbefore them in battle array on the plain of Granson. As theyreached the foot of the hill they at once saw that the dukescavalry was preparing to attack them. Old experience hadmade them callous to such sightsartofwarinmiddle00oman. Note About Images. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work. Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/artofwarinmiddle00oman/artofwarinmiddle00oman#page/n101/mode/1up. bookid:artofwarinmiddle00oman bookyear:1885 bookdecade:1880 bookcentury:1800 booksubject:Military_art_and_science bookpublisher:Oxford__B_H__Blackwell bookcontributor:Harold_B__Lee_Library booksponsor:Brigham_Young_University bookleafnumber:101 bookcollection:americana. Licensing [ edit ] The copyright is in the public domain because it has expired; The copyright was injected into the public domain for other reasons, such as failure to adhere to required formalities or conditions; The institution owns the copyright but is not interested in exercising control; or The institution has legal rights sufficient to authorize others to use the work without restrictions. Please add additional copyright tags to this image if more specific information about copyright status can be determined. See Commons:Licensing for more information. 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Please email the diagnostic information above to (removing the spaces around the @) and we will try to help. The software we use sometimes flags "false positives" -- that is, blocks that should not have occurred. Apologies if this happened, because human users outside of Germany who are making use of the eBooks or other site features should almost never be blocked. Charles Oman. Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman KBE (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. Occasionally his interpretations have been challenged, especially his widely copied thesis that British troops defeated their Napoleonic opponents by firepower alone. Paddy Griffith, among modern historians, claims that the British infantry's discipline and willingness to attack were equally important. Oman was born in Muzaffarpur district, India, [1] the son of a British planter, and was educated at Winchester College and at Oxford University, where he studied under William Stubbs. In 1881 he was elected to a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College, where he remained for the rest of his academic career. He was elected the Chichele Professor of Modern History at Oxford in 1905, in succession to Montagu Burrows. He was also elected to the FBA that year, and served as President of the Royal Historical Society (1917–1921), the Numismatic Society and the Royal Archaeological Institute. Oman's academic career was interrupted by the First World War, during which he was employed by the government's Press Bureau and the Foreign Office. Oman was the Conservative Member of Parliament for the University of Oxford constituency from 1919 to 1935, and was knighted in 1920. He became an honorary fellow of New College in 1936, and received the honorary degrees of DCL (Oxford, 1926) and LL.D (Edinburgh, 1911 and Cambridge, 1927). He died at Oxford aged 86. Two of his children became authors. His son Charles (C. C. Oman) wrote several volumes on British silverware and similar houseware, worked as a Keeper of the Department of Metalwork in the Victoria and Albert Museum, [2] and was active in the Folklore Society [3] (and was in turn father to Julia Trevelyan Oman). His daughter Carola was notable for her biographies, especially that of Nelson. Works. The Art of War in the Middle Ages (1885) "The Anglo-Norman and Angevin Administrative System (1100–1265)", in Essays Introductory to the Study of English Constitutional History (1887) A History of Greece From the Earliest Times to the Death of Alexander the Great (1888; 7th ed., 1900) Warwick the Kingmaker (1891) The Story of the Byzantine Empire (1892) The Dark Ages 476–918 , Period I of Periods of European History (1893; 5th ed. 1905) A History of England (1895; 2nd ed. 1919) A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, Vol. I: A.D. 378– 1278 (1898; 2nd ed. 1924) A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, Vol. II: A.D. 1278–1485 (1898; 2nd ed. 1924) "Alfred as a Warrior", in Alfred The Great , Alfred Bowker, ed. (1899) Reign of George VI, 1900-1925. A Forecast Written in the Year 1763 (preface and notes) (1763; republished 1899) England in the Nineteenth Century (1900) History of the Peninsular War, Vol. I: 1807–1809 (1902) Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Roman Republic (1902) England and the Hundred Years War, 1327–1485 A.D. (1903?), No. III of The Oxford Manuals of English History , Charles Oman, ed. History of the Peninsular War, Vol. II: Jan. 1809-Sep. 1809 (1903) "The Peninsular War, 1808– 14", in The Cambridge Modern History , Vol. IX, Napoleon (1906) "The Hundred Days, 1815", in The Cambridge Modern History , Vol. IX, Napoleon (1906) "Inaugural lecture on the study of history" (1906?), in Oxford Lectures On University Studies, 1906–1921 (1924) The Great Revolt of 1381 (1906) The History of England from the Accession of Richard II. to the Death of Richard III. (1377–1485) , Vol. IV of The Political History of England (1906), William Hunt & Reginald Poole, ed. History of the Peninsular War, Vol. III: Sep. 1809 – Dec. 1810 (1908) A History of England Before the Norman Conquest (1910; 8th ed. 1937), Vol. I of A History of England in Seven Volumes (1904–), Charles Oman, ed. History of the Peninsular War, Vol. IV: Dec. 1810 – Dec. 1811 (1911) Wellington's Army, 1809–1814 (1912) History of the Peninsular War, Vol. V: Oct. 1811 – Aug. 1812 (1914) The Outbreak of the War of 1914–18: A Narrative Based Mainly on British Official Documents (1919) History of the Peninsular War, Vol. VI: Sep. 1812 – Aug. 1813 (1922) The Unfortunate Colonel Despard & Other Studies (1922) British Castles (1926) "The Duke of Wellington", in Political Principles of Some Notable Prime Ministers of the Nineteenth Century , Fossey John Cobb Hearnshaw, ed. (1926) Studies in the Napoleonic Wars (1929) History of the Peninsular War, Vol. VII: Aug. 1813 – Apr. 1814 (1930) The Coinage of England (1931) Things I Have Seen (1933) "The Necessity for the Reformation" (1933) (public lecture) A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth century (1937) The Sixteenth century (1937) On the Writing of History (1939) Memories of Victorian Oxford and of Some Early Years (1941) The Lyons Mail (1945) References. ^ "OMAN, Charles William Chadwick". Who's Who, 59 . 1907. p. 332. ^ "Society Meetings, 18 June 1958". ^ "Minutes of Meeting: June 15, 1949". "Minutes of Meeting. Wednesday, 20th November, 1929.". "Report of the Council for 1943". External links. Works written by or about Charles William Chadwick Oman at Wikisource Works by C. W. C. Oman at Project Gutenberg Works by Charles William Chadwick Oman at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Charles Oman at Internet Archive Works by Charles Oman at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Use dmy dates from May 2012 Use British English from May 2012 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2011 1860 births 1946 deaths Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the University of Oxford Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1918–22 UK MPs 1922–23 UK MPs 1923–24 UK MPs 1924–29 UK MPs 1929–31 UK MPs 1931–35 Conservative Party (UK) MPs British military historians Alumni of New College, Oxford People educated at Winchester College Historians of the Napoleonic Wars Presidents of the Royal Historical Society Chichele Professors of Modern History. Help improve this article. About Us Privacy Policy Contact Us. Copyright © World Library Foundation. All rights reserved. eBooks from Project Gutenberg are sponsored by the World Library Foundation, a 501c(4) Member's Support Non-Profit Organization, and is NOT affiliated with any governmental agency or department. The art of war in the Middle Ages, A.D. 378-1515. This little book is only "young Charles Oman's" initial treatment of a subject so vast that he later (in the 1920's) devoted two largish volumes to it. (which work remains a principle "target" and benchmark to modern medieval military scholars) Although this little book is a fun overview it is not remotely in the same class as the later fulsome work. If the reader can obtain the two volume work this book can be passed over entirely. Though Oman gives it a good try. There simply may not be room to give someone used to modern armies any idea of how completely amateur a mess antique and medieval ones were by comparison. He may point out how useless 10,000 burghers may be, except to form a wall of flesh, but he forgets to note that they are a positive burden the second they are out of sight from home because you have to come up with food for them. So this is not thick with the fictitious European "peasant levies" that never existed, except as a fossil of law that created a means to tax peasants to support a war when legal systems of taxation barely existed. On the whole, a goodish introduction to the subject, after which you can get hold of Hans Delbrueck on the subject. Most modern writers, being stuffed full of legalisms with no real idea of the logistics of a pre-mechanized army or navy, are not as good. As well, his writing is clear, not out to impress you but inform you, with an appreciation for the grim humour of some situations. "Nothing could show the primitive state of the military art better than the fact that generals solemnly sent and accepted challenges to meet in battle at a given place and on a given day. Without such precautions there was apparently a danger lest the armies should lose sight of each other, and stray away in different directions. When maps were non-existent, and geographical knowledge both scanty and inaccurate, this was no inconceivable event. Even when two forces were actually in presence, it sometimes required more skill than the commanders owned to bring on a battle." If you don't want to wait for the "read on-line" page to load, here's the TOC: CHAPTER I. THE TRANSITION FROM ROMAN TO MEDIAEVAL FORMS IN WAR (A.D. 378-582). Disappearance of the Legion. Constantine's reorganization. The German tribes. Battle of Adrianople. Theodosius accepts its teaching. Vegetius and the army at the end of the fourth century. The Goths and the Huns. Army of the Eastern Empire. Cavalry all-important . . . 3-14. CHAPTER II. THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (A.D. 476-1066). Paucity of Data for the period. The Franks in the sixth century. Battle of Tours. Armies of Charles the Great. The Franks become horsemen. The Northman and the Magyar. Rise of Feudalism. The Anglo-Saxons and their wars. The Danes and the Fyrd. Military importance of the Thegnhood. The House- Carles. Battle of Hastings. Battle of Durazzo 15-27. CHAPTER III. THE BYZANTINES AND THEIR ENEMIES (A.D. 582-1071). 1. Character of Byzantine Strategy. Excellence of the Byzantine Army. Scientific study of the art of war. Leo's ' Tactica.' Wars with the Frank. With the Turk. With the Slav. With the Saracen. Border warfare of Christendom and Islam. Defence of the Anatolic Themes. Cavalry as a defensive force. Professional and unchivalrous character of Byzantine officers . . 28-38 2. Arms, Organization, and Tactics of the Byzantines. Reorganization of the Army of the Eastern Empire By Maurice. Its composition. Armament of the Horseman, A.D. 600-l000. Armament of the Infantry. Military Train and Engineers. The Officers. Cavalry tactics. Leo's ideal line of battle. Military Machines and their importance . . 38-48. CHAPTER IV.THE SUPREMACY OF FEUDAL CAVALRY (A.D. 1066-1346). Unscientific nature of feudal warfare. Consequences of head-long charges. Tactical arrangements. Their primitive nature. Non-existence of strategy. Weakness of Infantry. Attempts to introduce discipline. Rise of Mercenaries. Supreme importance of fortified places. Ascendency of the defensive. The Mediaeval siege. Improvement of the Arts of Attack and Defence of fortified places. General character. The Crusades . . 49-61. CHAPTER V. THE SWISS (A.D. 1315-1515). i. Their Character, Arms, and Organization. The Swiss and the Ancient Romans. Excellence of system more important than excellence of generals. The column of pikemen. The halberdier. Rapidity of the movements of the Swiss. Defensive armour. Character of Swiss armies 62-69 2. Tactics and Strategy. The 'Captains' of the Confederates. The Echelon of three columns. The 'Wedge' and the 'Hedgehog' formations 70-73 3. Development of Swiss Military Supremacy. Battle of Morgarten. Battle of Laupen. Battle of Sempach. Battle of Arbedo. Moral ascendency of the Swiss. Battle of Granson. Battle of Morat. Wars of the last years of the fifteenth century 73- 87 4. Causes of the Decline of Swiss Ascendency. The tactics of the Swiss become stereotyped. The Landsknechts and their rivalry with the Swiss. The Spanish Infantry and the short sword. Battle of Ravenna. Fortified Positions. Battle of Bicocca. Increased use of Artillery. Battle of Marignano. Decay of discipline in the Swiss Armies and its consequences 87-95. CHAPTER VI. THE ENGLISH AND THEIR ENEMIES (A.D. 1272-1485). The Long-bow and its origin, Welsh rather than Norman. Its rivalry with the Cross-bow. Edward I and the Battle of Falkirk. The bow and the pike. Battle of Bannockburn and its lessons. The_French Knighthood and the English Archery. Battle of Cressy Battle of Poictiers. Du Guesclin and the English reverses. Battle of Agincourt. The French wars, 1415-1453. Battle of Formigny. Wars of the Roses. King Edward IV and his generalship. Barnet and Tewkesbury. Towton and Ferrybridge . 96-123. CHAPTER VII. CONCLUSION. Zisca and the Hussites. The Waggon-fortress and the tactics depending on it. Ascendency and decline of the Hussites. Battle of Lipan. The Ottomans. Organization and equipment of the Janissaries. The Timariot cavalry. The other nations of Europe. Concluding remarks . . 124-134.