Warriors

Mamlƫks

Ottoman Warriors 6 Min Read

‘‘MamlĆ«k’’ meant ‘‘owned,’’ or ‘‘slave,’’ with the special connotation of ‘‘Caucasian military slave.’’ This was because most early MamlĆ«ks were Central Asian-Turkic or Caucasus slaves who were imported to Syria and Egypt by the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad to reinforce Arab tribal levies which were losing their military edge, and reputation, within the Arab empire. By convention, ‘‘MamlĆ«k’’ refers to…

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Warriors Wars 30 Min Read

Pequot War

The “match” in matchlock was actually a length of cord soaked in a chemical compound (usually potassium nitrate, aka saltpeter) to make it burn slowly. The match was held in an S-shaped lever (the serpentine) over a pan of priming powder. Pulling the trigger lowered the match, igniting the priming…

British Viking Warriors Wars 11 Min Read

The Great Viking Army in Wessex

The warrior bishop was an idea that interested creator Michael Hirst a great deal, and he saw Heahmund as a great foil for Ivar, the two being such wild cards. His role in the show is largely enhanced from the accounts in the history books. Because Jonathan Rhys Meyers has…

Warriors Weapons 12 Min Read

Homer: Weaponry and Command

The most distinctive and unusual item of military equipment mentioned in the Iliad is the Mycenaeans’ boar’s tusk helmet. Nothing like it had ever been seen by anyone living when the Iliad was written down in the eighth century; it was a genuine bronze age artefact, described in the Iliad…

Japan Warriors 14 Min Read

Ninjutsu

The origins of ninjutsu, placed approximately between 500 and 300 B.C., are commonly linked (as are most Oriental arts of combat) to Chinese sources. Mention is often made of the interesting section on methods of espionage which is embodied in the ancient treatise The Art of War, written by the…

Japan Warriors 15 Min Read

The Samurai Woman

Indomitable: Hangaku Gozen rides into battle swinging her bloodstained naginata and wearing yoroi armor symbolic of leadership during the siege of Torisaka Castle (in present-day Ehime Prefecture, Shikoku) in 1201, after her clan rose up against the powerful Minamoto Shogunate in a (losing) medieval power struggle. A salient and thought-provoking…

British Warriors Wars 42 Min Read

The Flagstaff War, 1845–6 Part I

‘Opening the doors of a monster furnace’ The Maori was arguably the Victorian soldier’s most formidable foe, and one he never properly beat. Yet the story of campaigns in the stinking mud and dense jungles of New Zealand, as fierce as any, is now an almost forgotten chapter in the…

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The Frankish Way of War

The kingdoms and peoples of Europe and North Africa just before the East Roman Emperor…

Etruscan Warriors

1. EARLY VILLANOVAN CULTURE, 9th–8th CENTURIES BC.(1) Leader with war-chariot, Tarchuna area. The early example…

Scythians

From eighth to the second century bce, the Scythians represented the most terrifying military power…

Mesoamerican Warfare (1200 B. C. E.-1521 C. E.)

Highest development of Stone Age warfare, with some variations. Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica provides an excellent study…