Medieval | War History

Arab Women Shame Their Fleeing Men Back Towards the Fight At The Battle of Yarmouk

Most people are familiar with the general history of the Arab expansion after the death of Mohammad. The Arabs didn’t sit idly in Saudi Arabia,…

10 Knightly Orders and What Made Each One Distinct

Andrew Knighton

Combining knightly warfare and a monastic lifestyle, the knightly crusading orders were one of the strongest institutions of medieval Europe. Through them, men sought a…

How Muslims Responded to the Crusades

Andrew Knighton

For Muslims living in the Holy Land, the arrival of Christian crusaders from the late 11th century onwards was hugely disruptive. It brought misery to…

The Rise of The Tokugawa Shogunate – The Beginning Of A Remarkable Period Of Japanese Peace and Prosperity

On October 21st, in the year 1600, the battle whose outcome would establish the hegemony of the Tokugawa Shogunate for the next 268 years was…

Siege of Vienna: Led by a Mercenary, This Desperate Army Turned the Tide on the Ottoman Empire

For four hundred years, the Crusades had seen European powers take war deep into lands far from home, under the banner of Christianity. The clash…

7 Types of Medieval Armor – From Quilted Cloth to Full Steel Plate

Andrew Knighton

More than any other artifact of war, armor dominates visual images of medieval Europe. From the chainmail carefully stitched onto each warrior in the Bayeux…

Battle of Lepanto – The Naval Battle that Saved Europe From The Ottoman Empire

The Siege of Venetian Famagusta, which lasted over a year and ended in Ottoman victory, was a critical loss for the Christian world. The merciless…

The Longbow: Its Rise and Dominance

The growing effectiveness of metal armour created a challenge for medieval soldiers. While the elite of knights and men-at-arms were now well protected, the majority…

9 Factors that Caused the First Crusade

Andrew Knighton

On the surface, the First Crusade looks like something with a simple cause – the hatred of one religious group for another. In reality, the…

The Iberian Wars between Rome and Persia

At the beginning of the 6th century, the Roman and Persian Empires were in the midst of a major conflict. The Second War between Rome and…

8 Ways Soldiers Were Recruited in Medieval England

Recruiting an army could be a difficult business in the Middle Ages. Most people’s lives consisted of farming small patches of land. When people didn’t…

Last Battle Of The Vikings On The West Coast Of Scotland

Jack Beckett

It was the age of the Great Mongol Khans. It was the age of Byzantium, of the Holy Roman Empire. The wars of the Reconquista…