Archer
An archer is a person who shoots arrows with a bow or is equipped as a hunter for bow hunting. The bow is still used and permitted as a hunting weapon in the USA , Canada and Denmark . The bow has been used as a piece of sports equipment since modern times. Historically, the bow was also used as a weapon by warriors. Today's archery developed from the exercises for military use as a competition and sport.
Arch types
A distinction must be made between natural bows , longbows of the Vikings and Anglo-Welsh archers and composite bows of the Huns and Syrian archers.
history
The military history records, depending on the culture using both archers on horseback in cavalry and chariot as a foot soldier . The bow served as the primary weapon, while secondary weapons were lighter edged weapons and protective weapons such as bucklers , short swords or battle axes. The other protective equipment often consisted of a multi-layer doublet , as chain mail and armor would have hindered the shooter when shooting. The contingents of archers protected themselves with obstacles such as crow's feet and sharpened stakes. Most of them were protected by foot soldiers.
Antiquity
Archers were used by the Egyptians from chariots . Between the Hittites and Egyptians it came about in 1274 BC. In the battle of Kadesch for the most extensive known use of chariots. This tactical form of action also occurred in other countries such as China, Persia and India.
In the Roman legion , these were usually provided on foot by auxiliary troops. Syrian archers were known with their composite bows . The Germanic tribes around the time of the birth of Christ also knew the bow as a hunting and war weapon. Particularly after the division of Rome as a world empire, archers gained importance in the Byzantine army of Eastern Europe due to the threat from the east.
The bow as the weapon of mounted men was mainly known to the Huns . Like all Central Asian herdsmen, they were good riders and archers and mastered the technique of the Parthian maneuver , in which one shot backwards at full gallop. This was made possible by the invention of a saddle with stirrups. As an award, the best archers wore colored ribbons in their long braids. The Romans also knew light saddles, but not stirrups. Due to the stable hold of the stirrups, the Hunnic riders were able to fight with both hands from the horse, as they could steer it with their thighs. This made them far superior to the Europeans in fighting technique on horseback. At the time of the Huns invading Europe, the bow was not the main armament on the part of the Romans and the threatened peoples in front of them. With the Germanic tribes it was customary to attack the opponent in a loose wedge formation head-on in close combat. The use of bows and arrows for warlike purposes was unknown to the Teutons at that time.
Japan and Asia
In Japan , the bow had been part of the samurai armament since the 8th century . In the Heian period (794–1192), samurai were the guardians of the imperial palace. Their main armament was the wakizashi sword. These forerunners of the classic samurai were equipped by the ruler. Since at the beginning the greatest advantage of these military units lay in their experience in mountain fighting and especially in archery, the term Yumitori (Japanese for archer) remained the honorary title of an excellent warrior for most of the following feudal period, the era of samurai rule . The Yumi (Japanese for bow), especially the Dai-kyū (Japanese for longbow), was feared because of its size, range and great penetrating power. Its asymmetrical shape made it possible to fire it from horseback, which made it feared as a rider weapon.
middle Ages
In the time of the Vikings in the early Middle Ages in francs and in England the main weapons ax, spear, bow and arrow were. During the time of the Crusades in the Holy Land , the superior use of mounted archers against armored knight armies was shown repeatedly, especially under the adverse climatic conditions.
In the battles of the late Middle Ages (approx. 1250 to 1500) the English longbow often proved its worth. In contrast to the composite arch, this was less sensitive to weathering. However, if opposing cavalry were able to break into the archers, only a buckler , a one-handed short sword , a long dagger or a light battle ax were available for close combat . Heavy armor and armament could not have been transported with the bow and would have hindered the shot. The ax was also used to create obstacles to the approach to protect the formation of archers from horseback attacks. Such fights usually ended in disaster for the archers, who were difficult to replace due to their long training. Therefore, the English longbow archers took cover behind sharp wooden stakes rammed into the earth, crow's feet , and were protected by armored knights who fought on foot. The tactic of archery consisted in the 43 ° high archery shot at distances of up to 350 m, in direct shot up to 70 m.
In order to increase accuracy and to make cracks in the armor named after the inventor were Bodkin - Arrowhead used. Long barbed arrowheads were used to kill the horses of the knights. Arrowheads with a feeder, a wire basket, were used to pick up incendiary material when buildings were fired with incendiary arrows. This is an open ball into which straw with pitch could be inserted.
Each archer could fire up to 12 arrows per minute in a volley shot. At the Battle of Crécy, for example, a hail of arrows of 72,000 arrows per minute fell on the assembled European army of knights who fought for France.
The bows were made by Bognern, the qualified bow makers, but were much cheaper than armor and edged weapons. The metal tips of the arrows could be made by any blacksmith. The bows and feathers of the arrows are only sensitive to rain, the tendons lose their elasticity, the glue on composite bows can dissolve due to high humidity and rain. Accessories for the bow shot were a forearm protection of the bow hand made of leather and a hand leather, also tab, for the tendon hand. (see also archery and traditional archery )
In contrast to that of nobles formed army of knights , that of a duke was out, the archers recruited from the peasantry and were from a low nobles as a Baron made a knight or count. Dukes, on the other hand, were members of a regional ruling dynasty, who exercised the rights of the king on behalf of the local counts and noblemen in an area and raised and led the exile.
During the Hundred Years War Edward III appointed himself . in January 1340 himself became king of France and invaded France with his troops from Normandy, which at that time belonged to England. His army was outnumbered by the French, but in 1346 he defeated the French in the Battle of Crécy in the county of Crécy by deploying around 8,000 Welsh longbows . The crossbowmen sent forward by the French king could be put down by the faster rate of fire of the archers. Another advantage for the victory was that the English archers could shoot with wind, which significantly increased the range of the arrows. The English archers then did not allow the French army of knights to come to close combat, favored by a marshy valley, and fired a hail of arrows in an archery shot, which hit the knights and their horses diagonally from above and led the French knights through their own horses and the subsequent battle lines were crushed. As a result, the English peasant archers succeeded in overthrowing major parts of the French nobility and in gaining victory for the English king.
The Battle of Azincourt (French: Bataille d'Azincourt, English: Battle of Agincourt) took place on October 25, 1415 and is considered significant in military history because, as before in the Battle of Crécy, foot troops armed with longbows played a decisive role at the end of the battle. The attack by the heavy French cavalry remained ineffective not least because of the massive use of long archers; the attack of the heavily armed French nobles was slowed down and impaired by their efforts.
These battles exemplify the missed tactical approach of heavily armed knight armies against lightly armed men, in favorable terrain and under favorable weather conditions.
Modern times
With the advent of handguns , the bow took a back seat as a military armament as well as for hunting and was replaced by the rifle as an accurate, rifled rifle. Nevertheless, bows remained a popular weapon among non-industrialized peoples until the end of the 19th century and, under certain conditions, quite effective weapon, such as the North American Indians in the Indian Wars .
The archers' successors in the military sense were the hunters , each of whom was equipped with a rifle rifle.
With the advent of the first battle tank got on the tank destroyer as a successor and led as in the Bundeswehr frequently the bow in her dressing coat of arms.
Web links
- History.com Waffentechnik - "Cutting and stabbing weapons" ( Memento from May 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive )