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Pikes, Halberds, and crossbows would be fine till the Romans looked them over, viewed the tactics of their deployment, and figured out how to defeat them. I don't suspect it would take them long, even in the field. Till then they would counter maneuver those pointy stick cumbersome formations into wooded or hilly areas where they would have more of a advantage instead of fighting on more level ground that would favor medieval weapons. I figure once they saw a halberd they would figure out in a hurry that it's main advantage was hooking and unhorsing cavalrymen. Long pointy poles cut from the countryside with a simple iron hook attached would accomplish the same thing in the short term. Hell a hook of fire hardened wood fitted to a pointy pole would suffice. As someone else mentioned.....The Romans killing everyone would be a huge confidence shaker for the knight/king class. "Enlightenment" comes with a price when your opponent just wants you and everyone you brought with you dead. View Quote The Romans were the best of their age, but aren’t the flawless war machine some think. They had their struggles with the Gauls. Medieval heavy cavalry would have wrecked them, combined with infantry and crossbows. |
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But heavy horse is expensive and there never is very much. The light cav with missile weapons are a bigger threat IMO as the are numerous, fast and dispersed. Slingers to the front! View Quote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cr%C3%A9cy |
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You come sit next to me! Currently reading Cicero's Murder Trials. Rome is my hobby. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And after that defeat you see a back and forth between Parthia and Rome for 400 years. Horse DID NOT overwhelm the Roman. Well, that explains the hand job you're giving Caesar. |
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Pikes, Halberds, and crossbows would be fine till the Romans looked them over, viewed the tactics of their deployment, and figured out how to defeat them. I don't suspect it would take them long, even in the field. Till then they would counter maneuver those pointy stick cumbersome formations into wooded or hilly areas where they would have more of a advantage instead of fighting on more level ground that would favor medieval weapons. I figure once they saw a halberd they would figure out in a hurry that it's main advantage was hooking and unhorsing cavalrymen. Long pointy poles cut from the countryside with a simple iron hook attached would accomplish the same thing in the short term. Hell a hook of fire hardened wood fitted to a pointy pole would suffice. As someone else mentioned.....The Romans killing everyone would be a huge confidence shaker for the knight/king class. "Enlightenment" comes with a price when your opponent just wants you and everyone you brought with you dead. View Quote |
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Rome is my hobby Well, that explains the hand job you're giving Caesar. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And after that defeat you see a back and forth between Parthia and Rome for 400 years. Horse DID NOT overwhelm the Roman. Well, that explains the hand job you're giving Caesar. |
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One advantage I will give to Rome is size. Roman armies could approach 100k in a single battle. European armies were typically in the lower tens of thousands. Quantity has a quality all its own.
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It's amusing as I was armor and despised and mocked the infantry (combat arms play) and here I am defending an infantry army over a more mobile and powerful but smaller force. Defend it I will and not because of 'rumor' or 'myth.' Do you know why we know so much about the Romans? Because they wrote it all down. Do you know why we don't know details of the middle ages? They couldn't read. I put my money on the ancients who were not only more organized AND civilized...they were tougher. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And after that defeat you see a back and forth between Parthia and Rome for 400 years. Horse DID NOT overwhelm the Roman. Well, that explains the hand job you're giving Caesar. |
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You do realize the "Middle Ages" covers 1000 years right? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And after that defeat you see a back and forth between Parthia and Rome for 400 years. Horse DID NOT overwhelm the Roman. Well, that explains the hand job you're giving Caesar. |
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For those who enjoy reading of the Roman civil wars of Marius and Sulla and Caesar's Gaul campaign, the scale of violence the Roman's were willing to inflict and receive is mind boggling. Armies of this size were not seen again until Napoleon and then only briefly. World War I type logistics and planning and relentlessness.
Quantity has a quality all its own. It would not have even been close. |
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For those who enjoy reading of the Roman civil wars of Marius and Sulla and Caesar's Gaul campaign, the scale of violence the Roman's were willing to inflict and receive is mind boggling. Armies of this size were not seen again until Napoleon and then only briefly. World War I type logistics and planning and relentlessness. Quantity has a quality all its own. It would not have even been close. View Quote Also I don't think you barbarians comprehend the maneuverability of small units of Roman infantry during the heat of battle. You don't see it again until the German storm troops of 1917. Absolute control of their units. |
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You literally just described what the Swiss did. Lol View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Pikes, Halberds, and crossbows would be fine till the Romans looked them over, viewed the tactics of their deployment, and figured out how to defeat them. I don't suspect it would take them long, even in the field. Till then they would counter maneuver those pointy stick cumbersome formations into wooded or hilly areas where they would have more of a advantage instead of fighting on more level ground that would favor medieval weapons. I figure once they saw a halberd they would figure out in a hurry that it's main advantage was hooking and unhorsing cavalrymen. Long pointy poles cut from the countryside with a simple iron hook attached would accomplish the same thing in the short term. Hell a hook of fire hardened wood fitted to a pointy pole would suffice. As someone else mentioned.....The Romans killing everyone would be a huge confidence shaker for the knight/king class. "Enlightenment" comes with a price when your opponent just wants you and everyone you brought with you dead. Except for obtaining better quality steel the Romans would be a very quick study and catch-up quickly. Things had not advanced really all that much as far as weaponry went between the two eras. I suspect the Romans would fight at a disadvantage till winter and when the next fighting season started they would quickly gain the upper hand with improved weapons and tactics. |
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With Julius Caesar with the 10th and other Gallic veterans? I think he’d shit in everyone’s Wheaties, including ghenghis khan, Alexander, and Hannibal.
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The Punic Armies of Carthage did rather well until Fabian refused them battle. So did the Germanic tribes under Arminius (Herman the Germa) The Goths at Adrianople crushed the Legions and the Visigoths sacked Rome. Now, throw in those Asiatic horse archers (Scythian, Parthians) and the Romans were really disadvantaged. Don't even think of what the Mongols would do. Sic transit gloria mundi! View Quote |
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One advantage I will give to Rome is size. Roman armies could approach 100k in a single battle. European armies were typically in the lower tens of thousands. Quantity has a quality all its own. View Quote |
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That is a myth perpetuated by the same people who think medieval swords were essentially 20 pound dull edged sword shaped clubs that caused blunt trauma injuries. There were plenty of well organized and deadly medieval armies that would trounce Roman legions. Genoese crossbowmen, English longbowmen, Swiss pikemen, some of the crusading armies were absolutely huge and very well equipped, Medieval Europe had siege engines that made Roman technology look like tinker toys, let alone getting into the full steel plate armored cavalry of the 1400s. View Quote |
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Quoted: Pompey and Vercingeterix both outnumbered caesars army 3 to 1. Caesar was the world most brilliant tactician this world ever laid eyes on. View Quote Caesar is definitely in the Top 10, perhaps even Top 5 though. |
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Single battle?
The medieval forces. Over a war? Romans. Numbers, organization, and logistics. |
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For those who enjoy reading of the Roman civil wars of Marius and Sulla and Caesar's Gaul campaign, the scale of violence the Roman's were willing to inflict and receive is mind boggling. Armies of this size were not seen again until Napoleon and then only briefly. World War I type logistics and planning and relentlessness. Quantity has a quality all its own. It would not have even been close. View Quote |
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https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/61337/THESS_ALEXANDER_01_jpg-714804.JPG Caesar is definitely in the Top 10, perhaps even Top 5 though. View Quote |
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Many of you are ignoring the impact of technology.
The longbow, crossbow, etc. on top of higher-grade metals used in armor and weapons would be a significant advantage for the Europeans. The Romans were still in the bronze age. The impact of the longbow alone against a Roman army would be devastating, assuming the European army was lead properly. |
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The people voting Rome > Medieval Europe are probably the same ones who think Bruce Lee could beat Mike Tyson.
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Can you reccomend a few good books about that particular period? View Quote Goldsworthy is probably the best Roman Author out there. It also comes with pictures of the battle formations along with famous battles to help you visualize what went on. |
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Pompey and Vercingeterix both outnumbered caesars army 3 to 1. Caesar was the world most brilliant tactician this world ever laid eyes on. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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One advantage I will give to Rome is size. Roman armies could approach 100k in a single battle. European armies were typically in the lower tens of thousands. Quantity has a quality all its own. |
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Oh they died like dogs...and kept coming. Rarely broke in that era either. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted: Shhh - he thinks Romans don’t bleed like everyone else. (Not to mention that educated Medieval leaders had the benefit of reading Roman treatises... but oh yeah, non Romans are not capable of learning anything haha) |
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Quoted: The Gauls were fractured tribes. Medieval France was not. View Quote |
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Also don’t bring up Charlemagne. He was a holy Roman emperor.
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Quoted: And the millennium and a half of nearly constant European warfare that followed bred weaker cowards? LOL (Not to mention that educated Medieval leaders had the benefit of reading Roman treatises... but oh yeah, non Romans are not capable of learning anything haha) View Quote |
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I think Caesar would have shit on Alexander. I think Hannibal would have as well. View Quote |
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Under vercingetorix the Gauls we’re united and outmanned Caesar 3 to 1 medieval France barely took over outreamer and that was due to the suljeks being divided. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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I like both of them, but Alexander's combination of tactical and strategic brilliance was unmatched IMHO. No one (other than Phillip) had even dreamed that you could conquer all of Persia with 40k men. That being said, Caesar's fortifications at Alesia were probably the most daring and brilliant tactical maneuver of all time. View Quote |
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English longbowmen attrit the Romans before legionnaires even get close enough to think about fighting. View Quote And I'm a Scot. |
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No doubt that Alexander wasn’t a brilliant tactician but he had a very drilled and seasoned army by his father Phillip II and he felt he was invincible which helped him bulldog his way to victories. Caesar would’ve used that against him. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I like both of them, but Alexander's combination of tactical and strategic brilliance was unmatched IMHO. No one (other than Phillip) had even dreamed that you could conquer all of Persia with 40k men. That being said, Caesar's fortifications at Alesia were probably the most daring and brilliant tactical maneuver of all time. This could be the most relaxing thread in GD since 16. |
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Henry V's army at Agincourt would slaughter the Romans.
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English longbowmen attrit the Romans before legionnaires even get close enough to think about fighting. View Quote And I'm a Scot. View Quote |
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No doubt that Alexander wasn't a brilliant tactician but he had a very drilled and seasoned army by his father Phillip II and he felt he was invincible which helped him bulldog his way to victories. Caesar would've used that against him. View Quote |
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And he sure the hell wouldn’t have lined up in the open field against them. Get a little terrain to break up that close packed infantry and disrupt the cavalry. What do you know it works against medieval armies too! This could be the most relaxing thread in GD since 16. View Quote |
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This is the real key. The full plate armor, quality steel, and calvary of the Europeans make a big difference but nothing changes the game like the English longbowmen. And I'm a Scot. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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English longbowmen attrit the Romans before legionnaires even get close enough to think about fighting. And I'm a Scot. |
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Quoted: This X10. Pyrrhus only did well against the legions due to his war elephants. Imo Pyrrhus was a good as of a commander as Alexander imo. View Quote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Hydaspes |
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Henry V's army at Agincourt would slaughter the Romans. No question about it. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Henry V's army at Agincourt would slaughter the Romans. Quoted:
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English longbowmen attrit the Romans before legionnaires even get close enough to think about fighting. And I'm a Scot. |
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