Quote Originally Posted by Boyar Son
please, generaly explain the tactics of the northern europeans (from England to france and HRE).

What did they do mostly with inf.?

What'd they do with archers moslty?

What'd they do with knights mostly?

What'd they do in battle? (just one head on fight? or depends on the general?) u know.. pitched battle.

who were the mainline inf? mainline archers? explain who generals preffered to recruit more, use more, sergeants or militia?


CLEARER?!??!?!?!?!
i suggest you read the book, the art of warfare in western europe during the middle ages - by Richard Vaughan

very general

infantry was until early 14th century used as a backup for the knights... the battle was usually decided in clashes of knights... after that they became more and more important and capable of holding their own... contributing to this was the rise of the longbowmen, the scottish pikemen, the flemish pikemen and last bot not least the swiss.

archers usually skirmished infront of the mainline to pepper the enemy and then withdraw, to later fill the gaps in the battleformation. they were few and underused, but deadly nonetheless. though most knights regarded them, specially the crossbow as unholy weapons, so they didnt respect them.

cavalry was the main force of the medieval army in the west, they were the best trained which made up for their small numbers. they usually tried to break through enemy formation with charges from the centre and flanks to run through it and then charge again from the rear. the power of the knights lay in their dense formation not their individual force, if they broke ranks they could easily be encircled by the foot who usually outnumbered them.

the usual misconception that in medieval battles generals just charged and didnt care what happened is very wrong. the most usual thing to do is to split the army into 3, the vanguard, the main part and the rear guard, the rearguard was usually commanded by the general himself or an able companion. the rearguard was very important because it had to break the tide of battle or cover the retreat, so the most trusted and battlehardened men could be found there.