In the magnificent and ups and downs of the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, a large number of new arms and tactics appeared one after another and shined brilliantly. Among them, the English longbowmen were undoubtedly the most dazzling stars on the battlefield at that time. Its outstanding performance in the battles of keresey, poitiers and Aguirre not only broke the myth that cavalry was invincible to infantry for thousands of years, but also seriously shook the military monopoly position of aristocratic cavalry in western Europe, declared the decline of privileged class, and then affected the historical process of Europe and even the world for hundreds of years.
So, how did England build such a longbow army that was a must in Europe at that time? Why did this heavily armored cavalry unit, which subverted the battlefield for hundreds of years, quickly withdraw from the historical stage after the Hundred Years War?
The country of longbow: the "national bow practice fever" in England
At that time, England had a unique longbow culture, and all citizens (referring to men) generally practiced archery to varying degrees, which provided sufficient troops for the British longbow troops.
The origin of English longbow culture can be traced back to William the Conqueror (William I). As a foreign ruler, William tried his best to suppress the influence of local Anglo-Saxon nobles and stipulated that Anglo-Saxon property owners should not own knight equipment.
But at that time, bows and arrows did not belong to knight equipment, so they were not restricted.
Because of this, although the longbow is not as respected as knight equipment such as armor, spear and sabre, it has become an armed force that people with low status can legally hold, which makes it have a high holding capacity among the middle and lower classes of society (excluding serfs). Later, from the Henry I era, frequent wars at home and abroad made the British government's demand for troops and weapons surge.
1252, King Henry III of England promulgated the Arms Act, which clearly stipulated that the civilian class must prepare bows and arrows and practice archery, so as to recruit archers to go out with the army in wartime.
After Henry III, kings of all dynasties attached great importance to bow and arrow and archery. Over time, England has gradually formed a nationwide craze for practicing bows. Because for a long time, joining the army was considered as the patent of the nobility. Unable to become the mainstream heavy cavalry, many ordinary people regard archery as a good way to change their fate, so that they can make contributions to the battlefield and worship their ancestors as Gong Bing in the future. After all, joining the army in wartime is much more promising than farming.
During the Edward III period, it was specially stipulated that male citizens aged 65,438+05 to 60 must go to the local church for at least two hours of archery practice on Sundays and holidays, and it was forbidden to waste time on other sports activities besides archery. Therefore, the practice of the whole people provided a powerful source of troops for the British longbow troops. Every time in wartime, the British army can select tall, strong and skilled archers from all over the country to join the army, thus assembling a huge Gong Bing legion in a short time.
Excellence: If you want to do something well, you must sharpen your tools first.
As the saying goes, if a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first. Although weapons are not the decisive factor in winning or losing a war, it is obviously impossible to build a strong team with soldiers without weapons.
The British army not only carefully selected the materials of longbows and arrows, but also had strict craftsmanship. Although the longbow does not need to be cut like plate armor and sabre, and the manufacturing process is not complicated. However, under the strict laws and regulations of the government, the longbow manufacturing industry in England soon developed a set of quite mature process specifications.
For wood with a long bow, it is required to be "three fingers wide and seven feet long, with uniform and straight texture and no knots". Bowstring production must use hemp fiber to avoid being easily affected by rain like beef tendon or leather bowstring. The shaft should be made of white wood or birch and "polished to the highest standard, stripped of bark and painted with blue paint".
In addition to being very particular about the selection of materials, the British army also set up a special supervision department to strictly control the process of the bowman in the production process. For example, when the arch back is bent, it should be an arc with the same radius in an ideal state, so the inspector will carefully check whether the width and thickness of the arch back are processed into a pattern that gradually decreases from the middle to the two ends, and judge the quality of the arch back by whether its curvature is smooth. In order to minimize the rate of defective products, the government also prohibits craftsmen from making longbows at night when the light is poor. To this end, it even provides a special reward and encourages people to report those who bow at night.
It is under the effect of such strict norms and systems that bow makers dare not neglect their products, so every English longbow is of excellent quality. Relatively speaking, the income and social status of bow makers are also respected, which in turn promotes the vigorous development of bow making industry in England.
Innovation: the Inevitable Law of War
Longbow tactics were first invented and used by the Welsh, but they only used longbow as an auxiliary weapon for long-range fire projection before the main army charged. England, on the other hand, realized the great value of longbow in the war with the Welsh and began to use longbow soldiers on a large scale, thus significantly changing the war style in Europe.
In the confrontation with the main rival of the European continent, the French, in view of their absolute disadvantage on the battlefield, under the command of excellent commanders such as Edward III and Edward the Black Prince, the British army creatively took the longbowmen as the core force and contained the cavalry advantage of the French army through multi-arms coordinated tactics. Taking the Battle of Crecy as an example, the British army dismounted all its heavy cavalry and formed a frontal force with Welsh spearmen to build the front line, with longbowmen in the rear and wings.
In this way, the longbowmen can not only cover the rear of the front line, but also shoot at the enemy's circuitous people, and also carry out long-range attacks on the front line when the enemy's heavy cavalry charge the front line. If the enemy makes a frontal attack with infantry or light cavalry, the British dismounted cavalry will choose a horse and ride a horse to dash into the opponent.
Compared with the British, the French also studied the longbow. But the tradition of advocating cavalry for a long time led them to think that Gong Bing's melee ability was too weak, so they were keen to use cavalry to launch a cluster charge, relying only on Genoa and crossbowmen for long-range fire projection.
However, the crossbow, a direct weapon, cannot effectively kill the longbowmen behind the main front.
In Cresset, poitiers and other battles, as long as the British longbowmen entered the range, they created "the heavy rain that covered the sky suddenly fell from heaven", and the intensive arrow rain quickly dispersed crossbowmen with only light armor as protection.
When the French heavy cavalry began to charge, although they were covered with thick armor, the arrows and rain would kill a large number of their poorly protected mounts, causing the cavalry to be thrown off their horses and causing serious confusion in the charge formation. In the end, few people rushed to the British main front.
Although the performance of the French cavalry is very brave and tenacious, it is helpless under the ruthless destruction of the longbowmen.
However, it is said that the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves before. The Hundred Years' War pushed the longbowmen to the peak of history, which made the traditional aristocratic knights in Europe suffer heavy losses. However, the war also taught the French how to reform and innovate their own tactics and weapons and equipment.
In the battle of Ginkul in 14 15, although the British army won again with the longbow, it was difficult for the longbow to penetrate the opponent's armor in actual combat.
1453, in the last performance of the Hundred Years' War-the Battle of Geoffrey Castillion, under the command of Jean Buch, the French army completely suppressed the British longbowmen with firearms, and finally won, and the longbowmen began to be eclipsed.
Since then, the proportion of longbowmen in the British army has been decreasing, and more and more longbowmen put down their longbows and began to practice firearms.
/kloc-in the 6th century, with the intensification of enclosure movement, a large number of farmers who lost their land had to work in cities and towns to make a living, and it was less and less common for everyone to practice bow together in Britain. Affected by this, the longbow manufacturing industry, which is increasingly depressed in the market, has lost its former prosperity and is irrevocably on the decline. The development of longbowmen has naturally come to the end of history under the circumstances that the source of troops and equipment are difficult to guarantee. After a nationwide debate, Queen Elizabeth I officially signed the law to terminate the longbow in 1595, and the longbow was finally completely replaced by firearms.
It can be said that the Hundred Years' War gave birth to the rapid development of longbow, making the British longbow soldiers a military myth to conquer Europe. However, stimulated by the Hundred Years' War, western firearms were upgraded at a faster speed and eventually replaced by longbows, becoming the king of the battlefield. This may be an old saying of China-success is Xiao He, failure is me!