15th century wars

There was something strange in 15th-century warfare. It was very technologically advanced and complex. That was the time of the early renaissance and the high middle ages. Sometimes I am surprised by how modern these stories sound. Some of the most medieval stories coexist with stories we would expect from our own century.

Jeanne d’Arc and a serial killer

Joan of Arc died in 1431, and burned on a stake as a witch when she was only 19 years old. French consider her a hero, and the church canonized her as a saint. Her rise to power was meteoric. Angels talked to her. This supernatural intervention was unconventional. Walking in men’s clothes was unacceptable.

Under her leadership, the French knights were careful in their attacks and successful in battles. This was an era of brave knights attacking against all odds and falling in despair as fast as issuing a charge. The inspiring lady in shining armor moderated both qualities, improving the military efficiency of the cavalry 10-fold. Galant knights followed the lady in large crowds, but eventually, she was left with only 400 guards. The opposing state of Burgundy eventually captured the girl as the land could not feed so many knights and their entourage.

Two years after Jeanne d’Arc was burned as a witch,  her closest friend became a serial killer. Gilles de Rais, marshall of France, was the inspiration for the French folk tale  Bluebeard, blue being his coat of arms. In a short period of 8 years, he sodomized and killed hundreds of teenage boys. The actual number is not known, as he was hanged for killing 600 boys. Modern occultists and anthropologists describe Rais as “in almost every respect…the male equivalent of Joan of Arc”

So every time we welcome our veterans, I have a dark thought about all the strange and evil they saw and how the experience scarred them.

The howitzers of Prague

Howitzer’s etymology points to cannons used in 15th century Bohemian wars, between 1419 and 1434. The beginning of the wars sounds very much like the religious wars of the seventeenth century. Only we do not see bashing musketeers. Instead, we see some of the first tanks in history.

For a brief period of history, the wooden carts used by local were just strong enough to withstand flintlock muskets and field cannons. At the same time, the firearms were just strong enough to pierce the armor of local knights. This provided the simple people of Bohemia and Moravia with enough firepower to withstand massive attacks of crusaders and catholic loyalists.

The wars started with a pre-protestant priest Jan Hus denouncing church corruptions, especially indulgences. He was burned. The Hussite militias converted farm equipment and looted town armories. Hussite militia comprised mostly commoners without prior military experience, and included both men and women. The use of crossbows and firearms became critical as those weapons didn’t require extensive training, nor did their effectiveness rely on the operator’s physical strength.  Firearms were first used in the field together with wagon fort. The significantly outnumbered Hussite militia led by Jan Žižka repulsed surprise assaults by heavy cavalry. Houfnice cannons were especially useful for crowd control, against heavily packed charges.

These early tanks, motorized infantry, and howitzers were extremely effective for a decade until new versions of field cannons heavily outperformed and decimate the earlier models.

In a way, the Hussite wars were a promo for 17th-century events, on a smaller scale. Occasionally  I feel like we get a quick glimpse into the past or the future. For example, the Spanish civil war could be considered a promo for WWII that followed soon after. If something really strange happens, maybe it simply happened at the wrong time and place.

Pointy shoes against pike formations

The Habsburg dominance can be traced to the First Battle of Guinegate, which took place on 7 August 1479. It followed the Battle of Nancy against Charles the Bold of Burgundy in 1477, when the Swiss defeated a smaller but more powerful armored cavalry force.

You remember the rich Burgundian state, which later became all-powerful Habsburg empire for burning Jeanne d’Arc a few paragraphs ago.  In the second half of the 15th century, the wealthy knights used to ride with pointy shoes that originated from Krakow. The longer the point the more powerful the knight. While these shoes were extremely uncomfortable, they were also extremely fashionable. They fell out of fashion only when a French king with six toes switched to the more comfortable and very wide square point shoes.

Now, imagine a group of very rich knights riding with a king and encountering a group of villagers. They were eager to show off. They were so eager that many of them dismounted and chopped the tips of their shoes, generating a small mountain of metal tips. Then they charged the villagers with their weapons, well ahead of more disciplined and experienced mercenaries. And then they were massacred.

The villagers used a new formation, an upgraded version of the ancient Macedonian phalanx. Lightly armored pikemen bravely used very long pikes in very mobile formations. The charge of pikes was deadly. In fact, it dominated the next two centuries of European warfare.

The next Burgundian archduke Maximilian married into the Burgundian kingdom. His beautiful wife, nicknamed the rich, died as she fell from a horse during a falcon hunt in 1482. She was 25 years old. Maximilian began to recruit mercenaries and train them in a format taking inspiration from the Swiss model. From 1482, they gradually became known as the Landsknechte. Also, the fact that the Archduke fought together with the infantry in the first ranks during the battle thus obliging his nobles to do the same was also considered revolutionary.  Maximillian the I, the ablest royal warlord of his generation was a Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death.

Sometimes even the best of us underestimate the opponent. Those who learn from their mistakes may rise to greatness.

Heavy artillery against and wars of faith

Constantinopole fell on 29 May 1453 after 53 days of siege. The victorious turks used truly heavy artillery. Orban, a Hungarian was a somewhat mysterious figure.  His 27 feet (8.2 m) long cannon was named “Basilica” and was able to hurl a 600 lb (270 kg) stone ball over a mile  (1.6 km). Orban initially tried to sell his services to the Byzantines, but they were unable to secure the funds needed to hire him. Orban then left Constantinople and approached Mehmed II, claiming that his weapon could blast “the walls of Babylon itself”. Given abundant funds and materials, the Hungarian engineer built the gun within three months. It was then transported by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men.

Constantinopole had a very complex set of wall, at least 20 km long. The Theodosian inner wall was a solid structure, 4.5–6 m thick and 12 m high. The outer wall was 2 m thick at its base, reaching a height of 8.5–9 m. Both walls were strengthened by terraces and moats. towers and other fortifications. The Turkish cannons took three hours between shots, but eventually, they were able to damage a part of the wall. The Turkish attack was spearheaded by elite Christian warriors, with the bulk of muslim attackers following them in waves. The wall was too long for the local garrison to guard effectively and waves upon waves of attacks in the same spot eventually overcame the defense.

Turks were heavily dependent on their large cannons. They shared their cannons with other countries. For decades Muslim Granada used their cannons against the combined forces of Aragon and Castilia. The king and queen issued expulsion of local Jews and Christian and confiscation of their property. Then the Spanish bought a lot of French guns, and in 1492 Granada surrendered. The victorious side was so happy, that they funded an expedition of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America. Spanish religious atrocities were performed against the Jews and Muslims in Spain. Turks encouraged their Christian fighters and engineers. Spanish rulers used the money to buy foreign cannons and navigation. Turks encouraged the best people in their vast empire.

It is clear that the Spanish approach was a huge gamble. Even risky approaches may occasionally work. If you cannot develop expertise in-house, it is OK to buy it. However, it is not a very good long-term position, even in the most favorable situations.

Hydroponics

The Aztec empire was the most powerful force in the Americas in the 15th century. A poor tribe called Mexica was losing a series of small-scale wars.  The Mexica moved to an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco where an eagle nested on a nopal cactus. The Mexica interpreted this as a sign from their gods and founded their new city Tenochtitlan on this island.

The Mexica were not the first to use chinampa: this technique was used since 11th century.  Weaving branches of wattle, layering the structure with mud, and floating it in the river was an extremely effective engineering step. Well before the artificial islands of Dubai and the floating islands of Maldives. Each 100m by 10m island was independent of rains and separated from the neighbor by a channel wide enough for a canoe to pass. The crazy thing was its fertility. 7 harvests per year of corn, beans, tomatoes, and chili peppers. This was possibly the most effective hydroponics prior to the 20th century and it fed an empire,

In 1427 a coalition of three Aztec cities was successful in a large campaign. The three kings assumed the title Emperor, taking turns as supreme rulers of Aztec coalitions.  In 1440 the empire burned books, claiming it was “not wise that all the people should know the paintings”. Nobility was separated from commoners, and religious schools were built in every city providing three degrees of education: commoners, nobility, and priests. The empire grew fast every decade until the Spanish conquest. The population of Tenochtitlan in 1519 was estimated to be about 400,000 people, the largest residential concentration in Mesoamerican history. This was approximately the size of Constantinopole in the 15th century. Paris in the 15th century had a population of roughly 150,000 and London about half that size.

Conclusion

What is the most powerful asset? Is it a charismatic leader, a group of highly motivated and innovative neighbors, or an economic marvel? Probably all of the above. While occasionally all three coexist in one lucky empire, other times they compete and cross-pollinate.