Ancient Warfare



Ancient warfare is war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In Europe and the Near East, the end of antiquity is often equated with the fall of Rome in 476, and the wars of the Eastern Roman Empire Byzantium in its Southwestern Asian and North African borders and the beginnings of the Muslim conquests in the 7th century. In China, it can also be seen as ending with the growing role of mounted warriors needed to counter the ever-growing threat from the north in the 5th century and the beginning of the Tang Empire in 618. In India, the ancient period ends with the decline of the Gupta Empire (6th century) and the beginning of the Islamic conquests from the 8th century. In Japan, the ancient period can be taken to end with the rise of feudalism in the Kamakura period in the 12-13th century.

The difference between prehistoric and ancient warfare is less one of technology than of organization. The development of first city-states, and then empires, allowed warfare to change dramatically. Beginning in Mesopotamia, states produced sufficient agricultural surplus so that full-time ruling elites and military commanders could emerge. While the bulk of military forces were still farmers, the society could support having them campaigning rather than working the land for a portion of each year. Thus, organized armies developed for the first time.

These new armies could help states grow in size and became increasingly centralized. Early ancient armies continued to primarily use bows and spears, the same weapons that had been developed in prehistoric times for hunting. Early armies in Egypt and China followed a similar pattern of using massed infantry armed with bows and spears. Infantry were at this time the dominant form of war, partially because the camel saddle and the stirrup were not yet invented. This infantry would be divided into ranged and shock, with shock infantry either charging to cause penetration of the enemy line or holding their own. These forces would ideally be combined, thus presenting your opponent with a dilemma: group your forces and leave them vulnerable to ranged, or spread them out and make them vulnerable to shock. This balance would eventually change as technology allowed for chariots, cavalry, and artillery to play an active role on the field. Cavalry would, however, not play any major role until the invention of the stirrup (for shock and heavy cavalry, such as knights) or thumb ring (for horse archers).

No clear line can be drawn between ancient and medieval warfare. The characteristic properties of medieval warfare, notably heavy cavalry and siege engines such as the trebuchet were first introduced in Late Antiquity. The main division within the ancient period is rather at the beginning Iron Age with the introduction of cavalry (resulting in the decline of chariot warfare), of naval warfare (Sea Peoples), and of course the development of an industry  based on ferrous metallurgy which allowed for the mass production of metal weapons and thus the equipment of large standing armies. The first military power to profit from these innovations was the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which achieved a hitherto unseen extent of centralized control, the first "world power" to extend over the entire fertile crescent (Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt).

Chariot warfare
As states grew in size, speed of movement became crucial because central power could not hold if rebellions could not be suppressed rapidly. The first solution to this was the chariot which became used in the Middle East from around 1800 BC. First pulled by oxen and donkeys, they allowed rapid traversing of the relatively flat lands of the Middle East. The chariots were light enough that they could easily be floated across rivers. Improvements in the ability to train horses soon allowed them to be used to pull chariots, possibly as early as 2100 BC, and their greater speed and power made chariots even more efficient. The major drawback of the use of chariots is similar to one of its advantages, the fact that it is light. The lack of armor causes it to be extremely vulnerable to spears, pikes, etc.

The power of the chariot as a device both of transportation and of battle became the central weapon of the peoples of the Ancient Near East in the 2nd millennium BC. The typical chariot was worked by two men: one would be a bowman and fire at the enemy forces, while the other would control the vehicle. Over time, chariots carrying up to five warriors were developed. The effectiveness of these vehicles is still somewhat in doubt. In China, chariots became the central weapon of the Shang dynasty, allowing them to unify a great area.

Although chariots have been compared to modern-day tanks in the role they played on the battlefield, i.e., shock attacks, this is disputed with scholars pointing out that chariots were vulnerable and fragile, required a level terrain while tanks are all-terrain vehicles, and thus not suitable for use in the way modern tanks have been used as a physical shock force. The chief advantage of the chariot was the tactical mobility they provided to bowmen. Because tightly packed infantry were the formation of choice, in order for ancient generals to maintain command and control during the battle as well as for mutual protection, a force of chariots could stand off at long range and rain arrows down on the infantrymen's heads. Because of their speed, any attempts to charge the chariots could be easily evaded. If, on the other hand, an infantry unit spread out to minimize the damage from arrows, they would lose the benefit of mutual protection and the charioteers could easily overrun them.

From a tactical standpoint this put any force facing chariots on the horns of dilemma, making chariots indispensable to armies of the day. Chariots, however, were complicated pieces of hardware that required specialized craftsmen to maintain them. Such services, therefore, made chariots expensive to own. When chariots were owned by individuals within a society, it tended to give rise to a warrior class of specialists and a feudal system (an example of which can be seen in Homer's The Iliad). Where chariots were publicly owned, they helped in the maintenance and establishment of a strong central government, e.g., the New Egyptian Kingdom. Chariot usage peaked in the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, which was probably the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5,000 chariots.

Siege Warfare
Main Article: Siege warfare

Siege warfare of the ancient Near East took place behind walls built of mud bricks, stone, wood or a combination of these materials depending on local availability. The earliest representations of siege warfare date to the Protodynastic Period of Egypt, c.3000 BC, while the first siege equipment is known from Egyptian tomb reliefs of the 24th century BC showing wheeled siege ladders. Assyrian palace reliefs of the 9th to 7th centuries BC display sieges of several Near Eastern cities. Though a simple battering ram had come into use in the previous millennium, the Assyrians improved siege warfare. The most common practise of siege warfare was, however, to lay siege and wait for the surrender of the enemies inside. Due to the problem of logistics, long lasting sieges involving anything but a minor force could seldom be maintained.

Naval warfare
The first dateable recorded sea battle occurred about 1210 BC: Suppiluliuma II, king of the Hittites, defeated a fleet from Cyprus, and burned their ships at sea.

The Persian Wars were the first to feature large-scale naval operations: not only sophisticated fleet engagements with dozens of triremes on each side, but combined land–sea operations. Ships in the ancient world could operate only on the relatively quiet waters of seas and rivers; the oceans were off limits. Navies were almost always used as auxiliaries to land forces, often essential to bringing them supplies. They would rarely strike out on their own. With only limited-range weapons, naval galleys would often attempt to ram their opponents with their reinforced bow to cause damage or sink the enemy warships which often caused the two ships to become joined together, and initiated a boarding battle. Only occasionally was a decisive naval battle fought, such as the Battle of Lade in which a Persian navy destroyed the Greek navy.

The Wars of the Diadochi and Punic Wars led to naval innovation in the Mediterranean by introducing multiple men per oar with little training. The massive industrial and manpower capacity of Italy and Magna Graecia was harnessed by the Romans in order to become the undisputed sea power and conquer these regions. The corvus and the harpax were among the devices that enabled to overcome the previous dominance of ramming tactics and switch again to boarding, albeit with larger ships, carrying more marines and catapults on board.

Ground warfare
Main article: Ground warfare

Ground warfare or land warfare is the process of military operations eventuating in combat that take place predominantly on the land surface of the earth.

Land warfare is categorized by the use of large numbers of combat personnel employing a diverse set of combat skills, methods and a wide variety of weapon systems and equipment, conducted in diverse terrains and weather environments. Land warfare is used in the in defence of urban and rural population areas.

Land warfare in history has undergone several distinct transitions in conduct from large concentration of largely untrained and irregularly armed populace used in frontal assults to current employment of combined arms concepts with highly trained regular troops using a wide variety of organisational, weapon and information systems, and employing a variety of strategic, operational and tactical doctrines.

Tactics and weapons
Main Article: Military Strategy

Strategy
Ancient strategy focused broadly on the twin goals of convincing the enemy that continued war was more costly than submitting, and of making the most gain possible from war.

Forcing the enemy to submit generally consisted of defeating their army in the field. Once the enemy force was routed, the threat of siege, civilian deaths, and the like often forced the enemy to the bargaining table. However, this goal could be accomplished by other means. Burning enemy fields would force the choice of surrendering or fighting a pitched battle. Waiting an enemy out until their army had to disband due to the beginning of the harvest season or running out of payment for mercenaries presented an enemy with a similar choice. The exceptional conflicts of the ancient world were when these rules of warfare were violated. The Spartan and Athenian refusal to accept surrender after many years of war and near bankruptcy in the Peloponnesian War is one such exceptional example, as is the Roman refusal to surrender after the Battle of Cannae.

A more personal goal in war was simple profit. This profit was often monetary, as was the case with the raiding culture of the Gallic tribes. But the profit could be political, as great leaders in war were often rewarded with government office after their success. These strategies often contradict modern common sense as they conflict with what would be best for the states involved in the war.

Tactics
Main Article: Military Tactics

Effective tactics varied greatly, depending on:
 * 1) The army's size
 * 2) Unit types
 * 3) Terrain
 * 4) The Weather
 * 5) Positional advantage
 * 6) Skill level
 * 7) Individual battle experience
 * 8) Individual morale
 * 9) Armament (quantity and quality)

Weapons
Main article: Weapons and Warfare

Ancient weapons included the spear, the atlatl with light javelin or similar projectile, the bow and arrow, the sling; polearms such as the spear, falx and javelin; hand-to-hand weapons such as swords, spears, clubs, maces, axes, and knives. Catapults, siege towers, and battering rams were used during sieges.

Battlespace
Main Aritcle: Battlespace

Battlespace is a term used to signify a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations including in ancient warfare land and naval  to achieve military goals. It includes the environment, factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy  and friendly armed forces, infastructure,  weather and terrain,  within the operational areas and areas of interest.

Organization
Main Article: Military organization

Military organization is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer military capability required for national defence. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in a nation's armed forces, though not considered military.

Military organisation is hierarchical. The use of formalised ranks in a hierarchical structure came into widespread use with the Roman Army. In modern times, executive control, management and administration of military organisations is typically undertaken by the government through a government department often known as a Ministry of Defence, Department of Defence, or Department of War. These in turn manage Armed Services that themselves command combat, combat support and service support formations and units.

Logsitics
MainArticle: Military logistics

Military logisticsis the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:[1]
 * Design, development, acquisition, storage, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of materials.
 * Transport of personnel.
 * Acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation, and disposition of facilities.
 * Acquisition or furnishing of services.
 * Medical and health service support.

Ancient West Asia
Main Article: Warfare in Ancient West Asia

Ancient South Asia
Main article: Warfare in Ancient South Asia

Ancient East Asia
Main article: Warfare in Ancient East Asia

Ancient Europe
Main Article: Warfare in Ancient Europe

Ancient Eurasian Steppe
Main article: Warfare in the Ancient Eurasian Steppe

Ancient Wars
Main article: Ancient Wars

Ancient Battles
Main Article: Ancient Battles

Ancient unit types
Main article: Ancient unit types