Regulai t1_izxd20x wrote on December 12, 2022 at 3:36 PM

Reply to comment by Hyphenated_Gorilla in How many knights in Armor would be on a battle field? by autism_guy_69

First we are talking about a particular time period and secondly...

no... just no.

Yes in many other historical periods or regions levying pesants and slaves was common, however there are few if any accounts of them being used as some kind of suicide softening force....

They might have been used as skirmishers to throw javelins/rocks but wouldn't be expected to fight in close combat...

The closest parables might be the Turks who would use a defense in depth strategy however the slave soldiers were there elites not the sacrifices, or the pre-marian Romans who had there youngest in the first row, but these were middleclass children not poor. The poor wern't even allowed to join the army.

War_Hymn t1_j02pdqn wrote on December 13, 2022 at 5:34 PM

And even when these peasant-based military forces did exist, the people fielding them eventually realize they were not ideal when fighting had to be done away from the homeland or for an extended time, and start to establish smaller but better trained/equipped forces to replace or supplement them. We see that transition happen in the Heian period of Japan (which saw the rise of the samurai warrior class) and Eastern Han in China.

In the case of early Republican Rome, a free citizen had to have wealth and property amounting to at least 150 drachmae (a silver drachmae at the time amounted to one day's wages for a skilled labourer) to be even considered for military service.

Even with the English archers in the Hundred Years War, most were middle-class gentry/well-to-do peasantry who had the means and income to afford their own military equipment and time to train for war/fight on extended campaign. Or were part of a noble's military retinue who was provided with equipment and income by their liege. With the latter, it'll be rather poor standing for a noble at the time to bring a band of poorly armed, rag-tattered peasants to a fight instead of a loyal/trusted, well-equipped and trained band of retainers.