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The Medieval era streches for essentially a millenium. During that era there were countless battles. The Medieval era can be defined chronolgically in different ways. It is difficult to define the beginnin and end of the medieval battles. We tend to view them with disappearance of the Eastern Roman Empire (5th century AD) and the increasing use of gun powder weapons (16th century). The most famous battles of the Medieval era are those fought in Western Europe, esentially because people are most interested in the history of their own people or country. Many of these battles though well known, such as Hastings, were largely dynastic struggles of varying significance. Other battles largely familiar only to hisorians seem far more important in terms of the consequences to the modern world. The battle of Yarmuk (636) in the Middle East is not well known to the average reader, yet it had profound consequences. The Arabs at Yarmuk decisively ended the Christian Byzantine hold on the Middle East and within decades Muslim armies had entered Europe, conquered Spaoin and threatened France, a threat defeated at the battle of Poitiers (732). We will list here the Medieval battles that seem to us of greatest importance.
The Prophet Muhammed received the fianl revelation from the Angel Jibril in the Arabian Peninsula. That revelation would inspire the Islamic faith. Fired by Islam, the Arabs burst out of the Arabian Desert to challenge the then expansive Christian Byzantine Empire. The first of many major battles between Muslims and Christians. The Arabs at the Battle of Yarmuk (636) din Syria ecisively defeated a Byzantine Army. This was the beginning of a major religious shift in which Islam gradually replaced Christianity in its Middle Eastern birth place. Yarmuk also marked a long series of Muslim attacks on the Byzantines and other Christian kingdoms in the west and Persians in the east. This is notable because modern Islamists now call Americans and Europeans as "Crusaders" and describe the Crusades as a Christian assault on peace-loving Islam. This view of history conventiently ignores nearly four centuries of unrelenting Muslim attacks on Chgristian kingdoms in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
A Moorish or Saracen army crossed the Straits of Gibraltar from North Aftrica (711). The Moorish army consisted of Moslems of varying origins. The Moorish army was predominately Arabs, but included Berbers, Syrians, and others). The Moors at the Battle of Río Barbate defeated the forces of Roderick, the last Visogothic king (July 19, 711). The Moors moved through the Toulouse Kingdom destroying ant armed resistance and over the space of a few years totally dominated the Peninsula. They then crossed the Pyranees amd moved into southern France. There they were defeated by tyhe Frankish leader Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers (732). The Moors moved back accross the Pyraneees and never again seriously threatened France.
Poitiers had been an important Roman town and a residence of the Visogothic kings until defeated by the Franks under Clovis. The Battle of Poitiers/Tours pitted the Franks against the Moslem forces moving north after theit comquest of Spain and southern France. The Franks were the most powerful force in Western Christendom. Had they been defeated it is difficult to see what other Christian force could have resisted the Moors. Charles assem;ed a large force, in prt financed from funds secired from the manastaries. He drilled his forced knowing the the Moors were headed north. He chose a strong defensive postion. The Moors had encountered small poorly trained a and were shocked when they encountered Charles' army. The Moorish Army was commanded by Abd-er Rahman, governor of Spain. Few reliable accoubts of the battle exust. As a result, the Moorish army is variously estimasted to number 60,000 to 400,000 soldiers. After aling citoes in southern Fance, Abd-er Rahman headed north up the Loire River. Here Charles set up his position just outside the city of Toursbin central France south of Paris. The two sides held their position for nearly a week facing each other. Abd-er Rahman was forced to initiate the battle as it was October and cold weather was approaching. The Frankish army was mostly infantry and Charles used a phalanx style of combat. Abd-er Rahman ordered a frontal attack, relying on the slashing tactics and massive superiority in calvary that had brought victories in Spain. The Frankish infantry was armed with swords, shields, axes, javelins, and daggers. They were better trained that te Visagoth armies encountered in Spain. Charles choice of the battlefield proved decisive because it limited the mobility of the Moorish calvalry. Tours was one of the few medieval battles in which infantry managed to ressted sustained mounted attacks. Accounts of the battle report it lasted any where from 4-7 days. A Frankish attack on te Moorish camp behind their lines appeas to have resulted in a collapse of the Moorish lines. The Franks captured and killed Abd-er Rahman. The Moslem army then withdrew from Tours overnight and and retired accross the Pyranees. Charles believed there would be another Moorish offensive, but it never came. The battle thus proved to be the high water mark of Moslem invasion of Western Europe, although Saracen raiders would menace the West for some time.
Hastings was one of the most important battles in British history. After centuries of political division and wars between the Romanized Celts, Anglo Saxon invaders, Vikings, and others, Harold had managed to created a unified English (Land of the Angles) state. Harold braced for an cross-channel invasion by William Duke of Normandy. At this time a half brother, Tostig. invaded with a Viking Army led by Harold III of Norway. Harold rushed his army north and devestated the Vikings at Stamford Bridge. Then learning that William was finally crossing the Channel, Harold rushed south again. The two armies met as Hastings. southeast of London (October 14, 1066). It was a fierce all day battle. Harold's army was tired, but larger and had the better field position. William's army was smaller, but better armed and desciplined. Harold was killed in the fighting. William became known as William the Conqueror. With the death of Harold and the defeat of his army, William was able to establish his authority throughout Saxon England.
The Battle of Manzikert was one of the key battles of the medieval era, although it was fought in the Middle East. It was fought on August 26, 1071 in what was then the Armenian Province of the Byzantine Empire, but now Malazgirt, Turkey. The battle was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks. The Seljug forces were led by Alp Arslan. The Byzantine Army was weakened by the desertion of the calvary and thus fighting blind. It was a disaterous defeat for the Byzantines. The Seljuqs captured Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes. It is significant because the Battle of Manzikert so weakened the Byzantine military that it was no longer able to effectively defend Anatolia which at the time was the remaining Byzantine hearland. The battle opened the way for the Turkish settlement of Anatolia. Without Anatolia, the Byzantines could no longer effectively resist the Turks, although the massives defensive walls og Constaninople and the Byzantine Navy would protect the city and various enclaves for four centuries. The Turks would eventually conquer the Balkans and threaten Vienna. Constaninople finally fell (1453). While the Byzantines were eventually defeated by the Turks. They effectively shielded Western Europe from the Turks for centuries until they were capable of effective resistance.
The Battle of Bouvines is one of the most decivuive European battles. It sealed the fate of the Holy Roman Empire and was a major factor in Germany's failure to coalese as a nation state. In contrast it mrked the emergence of the French monarchy and sent it on the trajectory of devine monarchy. Although the English wre not a major factor, it cemented the separtion of Normandy and Aquatania from the Englih crown. It also led to the Magna Carta and the end of absolute monarchy in England. Despite its importance, the battle is not as well knon in English-language histories, perhap because the English played such a minor role.
Crécy was not a decisive battle in deciding the outcome of a war. After all the war continued foir nearly 100 years and the French ultimately prevailed. Crécy was decisivem however, in a social context and it military arms. Edward III claimed the crown of France and took the largest army to ever sail from Britain to northern Frsnce. This was the most important battles in the early phase of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). Estimates of the size of both amies vary. The English foirce was about 11,000, over half of whom were bowmen. Even so it was a franction of the size of the French army commanded by King Philip VI. The French force may have totaled 60,000 men. King Henry and the French were sure of victory. The French amassed a huge army of heaavily armored French knights and Genoese cross-bow men, These were not armed commoners, but highly paid mercenaries. Crécy was the first important battle fought by an English force on the Continent. Edward had conducted a chevauchée (scoarched earth raid) and was headback to the coast and his his ships. Philip with huge army was determined cut the English off and destroy them. The English army was highly disciplined. Philip had little real control over the nobels in his army. In the resulting battle, the French nobility was decimated. Among the dead were some of the most important men in Europe. The ability of commoners to defeat the magnificently armored and mounted nobels marked the beginning of the end of the Fedual system. In military terms it also marked the beginning of the decline of the dominance of the calvalry.
Prince Dimitri of Moscovy was advised and influenced by Saint Sergey Radonezhsky who despite his early years as a hermit was an ardent Russian nationalist gating the Tartats (Mongols). Sergey urged Prince Dimitri to contront the Tartars. This was the last era of Mongol domination over Russia. The Mongol remnant state was the Golden Horde which was experiencing civil war and dynastic rivalries. Muscovy still collected and paid tribute. Prince Dmitry refused to pay when the Tartars demanded an increased tribute. Moscow was by this time the dominant principality in northeastern Russia. Dimitry commanded the Moscovite forces which defeated the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). This in effect established the independemnce of Muscovy. This was the first significant Russian victory over the Tartars. The battle site was near the Don River. As a result, Prince Dmitry was given the honorific Donskoy after this battle. Few battles had a greater impact on future European hoistory. The battle created the first independent Russian state since the Mogol conquest and the future Tsarist empire and modern Russia was built around Muscovy.
King Lazar Grebelyanovich was killed at the Battle of Kosovo Polje 1389 when the Serbs
suffered a disatrous defeat at the hands of Turkish Sultan Murat I. This ended the Serbian royal line and devestated the Serbian nobility. This ended the existance of Serbia as an indepebdent state.
Serbia and the Ottoman Empire fought the Battle of Kosovo Polje on St Vitus' Day (June 28). The basic oitline of the battle is know as well as the outcome. It essentially settle the fate of the Balkans for 500 years. Actually there are few reliable sources surviving and the battle continues to inflame political passions in the 21st century. This is because most Serbs know the battle through emotionally charged epic poetry. Historians other than Serbian nationalists question the view of the battle surviving in poetic sources.
Henry V was one of the great English warrior kings. He began his military campaigns when he was only 14 years old by engaging the Welsh comanded by Owen ap Glendower. He comanded his father's (Henry IV) forces in the battle of Shrewsbury when he was only 16 years old. After succeeding his father, he supressed the Lollard uprising and an attempt to assasinate him by a group of nobles loyal to Richard II. Henry is best known for his adventures in France. He attempted to marry the Frnch Princess Catherine in 1415 and insisted on the former Plantagenet provinces of Normandy and Anjou as a dowry. Frenck king Charles VI rejected the war. Henry declared war, in fact a continuation of the Hundred Years' War. Henry V seized the opportunity. The war for Henry offered two prospects. Henry could gain land that had been lost to the French. It also helped to deflect his cousins' royal ambitions. Henry achieved one of the great English victories over the French at Agincourt (October 1415). Agincourt was the most disastrous French military defeat until Napoleons defeat in Russia. Henry destroyed the cream of French nobility at Agincourt (1415). Henry's small English army defeated and killed a vastly superior French force. The cream of the French airistocracy was killed at Agincourt, many after the battle. Henry forced Charles VI to acknowledge him as the legitimate heir to the French throne. Henry's son who suceeded him was only 1 year old when his father died. Henry was the subject of one of Shakespeare's historical plays--Henry V.
English victories in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) threatened to bring all of France under English cobntrol. Orleans was the last great French bastion. The English layed seige (1428-29). It was at this time that Jean led a relief force. After losing several forts, the English abandoned the seige. Modern France and French contributions to civilization were powerfull shaped by Joan of Arc's victory at Orleans.
It is difficult to designate the last Medieval battle. A good candidate would be the final Ottoman conquest of Byzantium. A good case, however, can be made for this as the first modern battle because of the importance of artillery in breeching the famed walls of Constantinople. In addition, the Ottoman pressure on the Byzantines culminating in the fall of Constaninople drove many classical scholaes to the West--especially Italy. This played an important role in the Renaissance which played a major role in the formation of modern Europe.
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