What's the best weapon to fight a war with in ancient times? Every weapon has its advantages and disadvantages!

What weapons were used in ancient warfare? Each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages! Today we bring you some relevant content to share with you.

In the Cold War era, the most common weapons used on the battlefield were guns, spears, halberds, bows, and so on. Most early combat situations were primarily long-range attacks. The only time you could switch to a melee weapon was when you were charging. But is it true that the longer the spear, halberd and other weapons, the better? There is an old saying that "an inch long is an inch strong". Theoretically, the longer the attack distance, the less threat the enemy poses to you. However, long weapons also have a disadvantage, which means that they often have no resistance when they are close. This time, I'll tell you what considerations ancient weapons had when choosing between long and short weapons. Let's take a look.

Herraquerha, southern Apennines, 280 BC.

Twenty thousand Roman soldiers in three neat rows were surrounded by an equal number of Italian allies. The new Roman **** and state shone like a sunrise. The soldiers came from all walks of life. Everyone shared the enemy's courage. This made them invincible in the Apennines. Standing opposite them were 20,000 professional mercenaries from Epirus and Macedonia, commanded by Pilar, the bravest of Greek kings. 10,000 to 15,000 light infantry, archers, cavalry and war elephants supported them. These two groups formed a circle. The soldiers on both sides looked at each other's squares with curiosity. It was the first time they had seen such an array: the Romans, armed with javelins, daggers and shields, formed a horizontal line at regular intervals. The Greeks were closely arranged, and their 6-meter-long super spears were like a dense forest of metal, shining in the sunlight. The generals and soldiers on both sides were unpredictable at this point. Their battle will be remembered in history as the first collision of Macedonian and Roman squares.

Because the documentary "Resurrecting the Legion" is about 6. The super lance aroused the audience's keen interest after it was discovered that the Terracotta Warriors of Qin seven years ago had restored the image of the super lance square based on the remains of the super lance. Macedonian squares, Swiss squares, and Spanish squares, all of which are typical of superlance squares, became a hot topic. According to one view, the dense line of five spearheads in a super-long square was impregnable and was the "peak of cold weapons". At the time, the length of the spears seemed to be the only criterion for judging their combat effectiveness.

Is that really true?

Years ago, the main spear used by infantrymen was "one constant four feet long", and the razor-sharp spear used by charioteers was "three times as long". In the Zhou Dynasty, "eight feet is as long as you want, when you want". Thus, the length of the sheikh's spear was 20 feet, while the length of the Iraqi spear was 24 feet. According to Prof. Wen, the total length of the Li Zhou Kaogong Lu Ji Ren is between 19. 5 centimeters and 20 centimeters. Therefore, it is believed that the spears used by infantrymen during the Warring States period were 4 meters, and the spears used by charioteers were 4 meters. Eight meters. Rice. This length greatly exceeds the length of the spears traditionally used by heavy infantry in Ancient Greece, and is equivalent to the 5-meter super-spear of Alexander the Great's time, and second only to the 6-meter super-spear in subsequent wars.

However, archaeological discoveries have questioned this claim.In 1978, the tomb of Zeng Houyi of the Warring States period unearthed 49 spears and dozens of other long-handled weapons that were relatively well preserved. The longest spear was 4. Some handles were 36 meters long, but most long handles were 3 meters long. Five meters long. Rice or less. Other archaeological excavations from the Spring and Autumn period have unearthed spears 2-4 meters long and 3 meters wide. The most common length was about 100 meters. However, the sheikhdoms of Kaogongji and Yi spears have never been confirmed in archaeological finds.

As for No. 6. A 7-meter-long super spear was found in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty, identified only by the number T19K0027. archaeologists are still debating the nature of the remains in this area. Although many spear points have been excavated from the terracotta warriors, there are no remains of a complete spear shaft. Among the other lance weapons, several berylliums were well preserved, totaling about 3. 5%, including the beryllium heads. Six to three meters. Eight meters. Academics are still at a loss as to whether or not the Qin army existed a 6-7 meter long super spear square.

So were there really super-long squares in the HI

The answer is yes. Written by Woody Woods, a historian, martial artist, and poet from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Kao Gong Ji is one of the most important documents documenting the development of the martial arts in China during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. In this book, Woodruff recorded two schools of marksmanship, known as the "Shajia Gun" and the "Yang Family Gun". The Shajia Gun, also known as the "Shajia Pillar", is 10 feet 8 to 20 feet 4 in length. The length of Yang's gun was "10 feet to 4 feet, plus 10 feet to 6 feet". The architectural scale of the Ming Dynasty was about 32 centimeters, 10 feet for 10 feet. The length of the Shajia bamboo could be up to 7. 6 meters, and Yang Jia's spear could reach 5. 1 meter. The length of such spears was very close to the contemporaneous European Spanish and Gustavian squares.

It is further elaborated that in the armies of the time, the Yangjia and Shajia spear techniques were especially favored by the commanders. Due to its simplicity of learning and attacking ability, it was suitable for troop formations, especially dense squares. This claim is also confirmed by other military writings of the same period. For example, in Ji Xiao's new book, Qi Jiguang says: "Gunnery begins with the young man, named Pear Blossom. The world is still salty . The gusha spear and the horse spear each have their own style, just different lengths . Twenty years of Pear Blossom Spear, the world is invincible. Believe it!" There's another article in the li that says: "Ten feet long, seven or eight feet long, sword tip . The first time to use the South to kill the Japanese depends on it."

Based on Qi Jiguang's views on lances and the yuanyang formation, it can be seen that the Qi family army's yuanyang formation was actually a smaller, more dexterous super lance formation. The first row of the formation is used to prevent tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits tight fits

Yuanyang Formation

So does this mean that the extra-long square formation was the pinnacle of the Cold War era for both East and West? Woods seems to disagree with this view.

Volume 6 says: "An old man with a gun has a weak waist, a short man has a strong waist. Use this to remove . This pole is long and soft. Although the two wrists yin and yang interchangeable, but can help to balance the arm strength, so there is no stubbornness, you can not do the head from the root. As a result the head of the gun is shaking crooked. Shaking and stomping. He goes out. How can he stamp without a cross?"

Woody believed that guns longer than 1.2 ft. (8 m), no matter what kind of wood was used for the gun body, would sag and become soft due to self-weight. That's why both the Shajia gun and the Yang family gun are soft. The softness of the gun body is not conducive to blocking on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is difficult to accurately control the swinging of the gun, especially the swinging of the gun head. Of course, the swinging of the spear head was not conducive to hitting the target accurately, and it also affected the attack effect of the lance. In other words, the stabbing effect of the super lance was actually inferior to that of the short lance.

Many people believe that the superlong square is indestructible because it has five layers of spearheads in front of it. But in 16th- and 17th-century European battles between superlong squares, there was often a "pushover". Examples include the Pavia War of 1525, the Cheretzolle War of 1544, and the "Push of the Spear" of 1600, which took place at the Battle of Newbolt in 2000. A "spear push" is when two spearmen are fighting their way forward and both spearmen break through the other's spear line. The spears of both sides are intertwined and the soldiers are packed together like a rugby ball. At this point, no one could attack each other with their spears. Before anyone thought of pulling out a dagger and stabbing a black knife, the battlefield would become as interesting as an alley fight. The recurring phenomenon of "pushing spears" also shows that the frontal lethality of extra-long squares is not as powerful and invincible as many people think.

Pushing spears against the formation is damaging, but there is usually no other option at this point.

How to stay in formation and get out of a "push spear" after it happens is also an important training course for modern battlefield recovery clubs.

Additionally, Woody said in his book that the weight of a whole wooden lance handle is relatively large, reaching more than 10 kilograms. Because the arms of the lance are particularly long and the self-weight moment is quite large, it takes a lot of energy to stab with such a heavy lance. According to history, during the time of his father, Philip II, Alexander the Great of Macedon had to reduce the diameter of his heavy infantry shields from 1m to 60cm after increasing his square lance from 4m to 5m. he also did away with metal armor and had his soldiers use lighter leather and linen armor.

Woody also introduced several other Pike sects, including the Shi Jia Qiang, Emei Qiang and Ma Jia Qiang. Most of these sects used spears with an empirical value of "nine feet seven inches". The Woodlanders considered this to be the most convenient size after taking into account weight, length, center of gravity, and grip size. The grips of the spears were made of hardwoods such as oxbridge and rapier wood, which were difficult to bend. Because the gun itself is hard and heavy, it is possible to make highly skilled defensive movements through hand movements, flexibly controlling the root of the gun, using various leather gun skills, and then entering step by step. However, because it requires a high level of skill, it takes a long time of training to use it easily.

Woods discusses the 3. 1-meter-long lance equivalent to the height of the lance of Greek heavy infantryman Iphiketos. This length was also the most common long-handled weapon in the world. One could call the standard lance a 3-meter lance. The length of the spear evolved dialectically through repeated struggles and changes throughout the centuries of glorious Greek and Macedonian history. Although it seems to many that the Macedonian square replaced the Greek square and the Macedonian spear replaced the Greek spear, rigorous historians rarely draw arbitrary conclusions about this. In fact, long after the death of Alexander the Great, the Greek phalanx continued to exist and produced many brilliant victories. Reviewing the development of the Greek and Macedonian squares helps us to grasp the key points of the dialectic between the standard and super-spear.