Castles and fortified cities could eventually succumb to starvation or to an assault using battering rams, catapults, and mining (also known as sapping, a process in which tunnels are dug beneath fortification walls preparatory to using fire or explosives to collapse the structure), but progress in siege warfare was almost always slow and painful. But they also improved a third type of warfare-the siege, or, more properly, poliorcetics, the art of both fortification and siege warfare. Medieval strategists made use of many forms of warfare, including set-piece battles, of course, as well as the petty warfare of raiding and harassment. On the other hand, one or two decisive battles, most notably the ruinous disaster at the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn (1187), doomed the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, and earlier the Battle of Manzikert (1071) was a blow from which the Byzantine Empire never recovered fully. The Crusader states of the Middle East were gradually exhausted and overwhelmed by constant raiding warfare and the weight of numbers. In Delbrück’s parlance, medieval warfare demonstrated both types of strategy-overthrow and exhaustion. Greek fire, a liquid incendiary agent, enabled the embattled Byzantine Empire to beat off attacking fleets and preserve its existence until the early 15th century.
The strategic predicament of the Byzantine Empire-beset by enemies that ranged from the highly civilized Persian and Arab empires to marauding barbarians-required, and elicited, a complex strategic response, including a notable example of dependence on high technology. Unlike the power structures in the 18th and 19th centuries, military organizations, equipment, and techniques varied widely in the medieval period: the pikemen of Swiss villages were quite different from the mounted chivalry of western Europe, who in turn had little in common with the light cavalry of the Arabian heartland.
In the Middle Ages there existed a wide variety of entities-from empires to embryonic states to independent cities to monastic orders and more-that brought different forms of military power to bear in pursuit of various aims. Nevertheless, Europe’s medieval period may be of especial relevance to the 21st century. Certainly, the sources for medieval strategic thought lack the literary appeal of the classic histories of ancient Greece and Rome. Most military histories skim over the Middle Ages, incorrectly believing it to be a period in which strategy was displaced by a combination of banditry and religious fanaticism. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.