Did archers ever shoot over the heads of their allies at enemy cavalry? Did they ever do this during a melee?
Upvote:8
Did anyone ever do this? In a pinch, probably. Was this typical tactics for a unit of archers in warfare? No.
Individual archers in a unit weren't trained to aim at specific other individuals in an opposite unit. Instead units were trained to fire gigantic volleys of arrows (or alternately a continuous fire-at-will rain) into the mass of opposing units. Doing so at maximum range means, by definition, the arrows would be coming down at something like a 45 degree angle, not still rising as would be required to reliably only hit higher objects. To be hitting things on the upward trajectory, you've have to be at closer than half range. For obvious reasons, that's not where a unit of archers wants to be.
For this reason, having them fire into the middle of an engagement would be inadvisable, as they'd be just as likely to hit friendlies as enemies. Arguably even more likely, if shields were involved, as their side's shields would likely be pointed away from the incoming fire.
Reported successful anti-horse tactics for units of archers involve using pits, stakes, or entire units of pikemen in front. For example, at the definitive archer-won battle of Agincourt, the English bowmen set up with woods at their back and flank, and used wooden stakes pounded into the soft earth to protect their front from cavalry.
How about if the horse did get into melee with the archers? Again, this is a suboptimal outcome for the archers that they don't want. The unfortunate cavalry at Agincourt didn't manage it (which is part of why their side didn't win), but their heavy infantry did.
The surviving French men-at-arms reached the front of the English line and pushed it back, with the longbowmen on the flanks continuing to shoot at point-blank range. When the archers ran out of arrows, they dropped their bows and using hatchets, swords and the mallets they had used to drive their stakes in, attacked the now disordered, fatigued and wounded French men-at-arms massed in front of them
So yeah, it looks like they'd still use their bows as best as they can once the fight got to close quarters. But clearly this isn't going to be nearly as effective a way for them to fight as standing back and perforating the foe from a range they can't respond. The saving grace at Agincourt was that their opponent by the time they got there was more tired, and fighting in a mudhole that made their heavier armor actually a liability.
More post
- 📝 How area of a country used to be calculated?
- 📝 How would Eastern European emigres have traveled across Eastern Europe to Warsaw in the early 20thC?
- 📝 How many aircraft participated in each of the three waves against the Yamato?
- 📝 Who proposed the motion that gave Gaius Julius Caesar the title Augustus?
- 📝 When was the American War of Independence first called a 'Revolution'?
- 📝 What was this building and what happend to it?
- 📝 Why do people still leave flowers at the Temple of Julius Caesar?
- 📝 Pedophilia in ancient Greek and Roman culture
- 📝 Has any national leader ever climbed as far as fast as Ulysses S Grant?
- 📝 How did the Soviet Union support the development of their atomic bomb in 1949?
- 📝 What was the source of "presidium" as used by the Soviets?
- 📝 How many officers on board Type VII-C U-boat?
- 📝 Flag of Paris: Why blue and red?
- 📝 Are there any images from ancient times in which Heracles is shown with a cornucopia?
- 📝 What does WW2 US Army discharge code W.D. CIR 395, 1942 mean?
- 📝 How was silver/gold mining done in colonial Americas?
- 📝 On the Ezana Stone, who are the black and red people that the Ethiopian king was referring to?
- 📝 What activities for children were there in Paris in the 1930s (that were not also available in the countryside)?
- 📝 Was the introduction of paper money controversial like cryptocurrency?
- 📝 How long have culture wars/cultural dichotomies been around?
- 📝 Did a German plane really land in Moscow in May 1941?
- 📝 Why was communism at odds with pan-Arabism?
- 📝 Is the enforcement of Hijab wearing for Muslim women a recent occurrence?
- 📝 Has there ever been a cold war other than between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.?
- 📝 What led to the first fight in the American Civil War?
- 📝 What can these photos say about my father's service for the British in WWII?
- 📝 How did member states of the Holy Roman Empire justify only including part of their land inside it?
- 📝 What did Cyrus the great look like?
- 📝 Can someone help me identify this sword?
- 📝 What was the biggest empire that never had capital punishment?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Did archers ever shoot over the heads of their allies at enemy cavalry? Did they ever do this during a melee?
- 📝 What was the first instance of native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
- 📝 Did the Byzantines ever attempt to move their capital to Rome?
- 📝 Why did the German air force lose experienced pilots faster than the Allies, even though they were defending their home airspace?
- 📝 Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
- 📝 Did courtiers of antiquity hold in their pee or did they have common commodes available in the king/queen's court?
- 📝 Did the founding members of the Black Panthers ever mention the role of Malcolm X in creating their group?
- 📝 Did any country threaten war on the US because they didn't pay their debt after the Revolutionary War?
- 📝 What was the program of the Mensheviks in their later years? How did they hope to achieve it?
- 📝 Did the Russian Empire have a claim to Sweden? Was there ever a time where they could have pursued it?
- 📝 Did medieval archers shoot from both sides of the bow?
- 📝 Did the Allies punish their own war criminals?
- 📝 Did the Bush administration or their successors ever comment on the alleged Taliban warning about 9/11?
- 📝 Did the Allies ever seriously contemplate a "Northern Intervention" in Russia during World War II?
- 📝 Did the Nazis ever cite Martin Luther's "The Jews and their lies" to justify the holocaust?
- 📝 Did the US military just kill more Russians in Syria than they ever did during the Cold War?
- 📝 Did the western Allies and Russia try to cooperate in World War I as they did in World War II?
- 📝 Did any nation have a demonstrable qualitative advantage in their soldiers of the 18th century, and how did they achieve this?
- 📝 Under feudal primogeniture, did second+ sons ever eye the land holdings of their father's vassals?
- 📝 Were titles in the British Peerage ever connected to land grants, and if so, when did they stop being connected to land?
- 📝 Did the British screw Lee Kuan Yew over by withdrawing their naval presence earlier than intended?
- 📝 Why did no one take Siberia over before the Russians, and how did they do it?
- 📝 Did Nebuchadnezzar And The Medes Ever Go To War After Their Alliance Against Assyria?
- 📝 How did Belgium manage to maintain control over their colonies while they were occupied?
- 📝 Why did the United States decide to cross over the 38th parallel to North Korea after they attacked South Korea?
- 📝 In the USSR, did they ever stop 'officially' believing in the future Communist utopia?
- 📝 Why did the USA ever test nukes on their own soil?
- 📝 When did the allies find out about the killing of Jews during WW2
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Why did the Confederacy think they could win the American Civil War?