Cavalry

• The Indo-Europeans left their homeland at the meeting point of Europe and Central Asia and arrived on the battlefield pulling chariots. It was an amazing invention.

  • In Sumer (3000 BCE), donkey-driven chariots were known to have been used.

  • Without resistance, the Indo-European Hittites (1400 BCE) entered Sumerian territory on horseback in chariots.

• The development of the stirrup by Asian nomads around 300 BCE was the next step after cavalry started to play a significant role in warfare.

  • At around the same time, the wandering Huns nailed metal horseshoes to the hooves of their livestock.

  • With the help of these innovations, horses could travel further and more quickly, and riders had greater control over their mounts.

• Elephants were first used in combat in India.

  • Alexander the Great first witnessed the war elephant in India. Later, the Romans regarded them greatly.

  • However, elephants struggled to adjust to the cold.

  • Only one elephant made it across the Alps during Hannibal's invasion of Italy.

Infantry and Iron Weapons

• In Sumer (2500 BCE), the use of the shield led to advancements in the protection of foot soldiers.

  • In the time of Alexander the Great, an entire company of soldiers would advance into battle while shields were linked together to form a moving wall — an arrangement called a phalanx.

  • By 250 BCE, The Chinese had created metal plate body armor.

    • The concept of "knights in shining armor" engaged in heated battle is a Middle Ages fantasy, as iron was plainly too heavy and useful for substantial use.

    • Around 250 CE, the Parthians asserted that their horses, which were strong enough to carry their warriors wearing full armor, ate Iranian mountain alfalfa.

• The raiding Hittites brought about the beginning of the Iron Age by replacing bronze weapons with iron ones.

  • By 1000 BCE, iron was widely used for weapons throughout the Mediterranean region and after 500 BCE, it was used in China as well.

  • By 750 BCE, wrought iron was being used on the battlefield and even the Celts had mastered the art of smelting.

Sieges and Archers

• Assyrians, the Near East's most feared warriors, thrived in war-making innovations and organization, constructing an unifying and long-lasting empire from Mesopotamian city-states.

  • When the Assyrians evolved against city barriers and gates, they used artillery cannons and siege engines that terrified the inhabitants.

  • The Assyrians would dash around with chariot-driven platforms of archers and slaughter their helpless foes as soon as their men marched outside the city walls before battle.

  • For 500 years, besieging techniques remained largely unchanged until the Romans devised the catapult in 500 BCE, which threw boulders and igniting fireballs at their enemies' safeguards.

• One of the world's first primitive weapons to be used was the bow and arrow.

  • The Iliad's Greek characters detested and despised the bow and arrow, viewing hand-to-hand combat as the real test of a hero.

  • Xerxes (490 BCE) and Marcus Aurelius (170 CE) used archers to considerable benefit, as their arrows would darken the skies even before the charge control of their ground forces and troops.

  • With the crossbow, the Chinese discovered ways to enhance their aim and power; later, the composite bow was created by nomadic tribes of the Asian steppes. Both were more effective and potent than a straightforward bow.

Navies

• In 14th century BCE, the Achaeans and others explored the sea.

• By 1200 BCE, the Mediterranean Sea Peoples and the Egyptians engaged in the first-ever recorded maritime conflict.

• By the early 700s BCE, both Assyria and India had seagoing vessels.

• The Athenians were one of the first states to make maritime trade their primary industry, along with the Phoenicians and possibly the Etruscans.

• They were the ones who gave the trireme ship's use in battle a decisive significance.

• Navies became more and more significant as civilizations increased their trade and social connections, and Athens survived by controlling the seas.

• Although they played a limited part in warfare, ships were primarily used for carrying cargo, raiding, and exploration.

• As a result, Oceanian natives used their prowess at sea to colonize places like Hawaii and the Easter Islands, while the Phoenicians discovered Britain.