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Originally Posted by Maximus
Battle of Carrhae took place in 53 BC. That is almost 1500 years before Mongols existed.
There was no such thing as a gunpowder in that era(which BTW Chinese invented), so your point of Mongols having better seige capability is obvious & worthless.
Also quality of armour itself was very different in
1. 53 BC(Battle of Carrhae) - when only leather and bronze armour was used;
2. 450 AD(approx time of Western Roman Empire's decline) - when chain mail was used along with leather armour; and,
3. 1206 AD(The time of Mongol Unification) - the use of plate armour became more pronounced.
You are comparing armies from two completely different eras.
It is very obvious that a very bad army from today would be able to defeat the best army of 1500 years ago.
The point is, assume that the Roman Army from 150 A.D. having technologies from the time of Mongols. And then compare.
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I am trying to be fair here. But if you really want to compare 12th century technology vs Rome at its height fine.
1.) CHinese Seige capability was in no way dependant on gun powder.
The Chinese were the first to use the counter weight catapult, or trebuche in European terms. Take a look at them here.
authors.history-forum.com/liang_jieming/chinesesiegewarfare/index-english16062006.html
2.) BAttle of carrhae the Roman Legions wore the Lorica Hamata, chain armor. It was only during the reign of Augustus that they switched the Lorica Segmentata, or plate armor.
Here are the reasons why Rome military technology is not as good as 12th century technology.
Invention of the Stirrup - Stirrups changed the basic tactics of mounted warfare and made cavalry more important. Braced against the stirrups, a knight could deliver a blow with a lance that employed the full weight and momentum of horse and rider together. The addition of stirrups also allowed a rider to use a longer (and vastly more powerful) bow by standing up on the stirrups. Standing on the stirrups also provide a more stable firing platform, giving more accurate fire.
COmposite Recurved Bow - The bows were made of three layers; horn bellies, a wood core and "ears", also known as "siyahs", and a back made of layers of sinew. The entire bow was then wrapped with birch bark or sometimes fish skins. The arrows shot by these composite bows had enormous striking power, which allowed the arrows to pierce both plate and chain mail armor.
Counter Weight Catapult - This type of seige engine can fire larger projectiles at much longer range than anything the ROman army can field.
Medicine - Legionaires are expensive to create from scratch. The fatality rate of the Legions on campaigns were much higher than the Mongols.