Quote:
Originally Posted by ExNavyAmerican
The Europeans, and Slavic peoples of the middle ages were not very advanced, ....
|
They were, for the most part, far more 'advanced' in the 1240's than the (Western) Roman Empire had been - certainly in terms of military 'hardware'. Hungarian or Polish 'knights' from 1240 would have 'crushed' a Roman legion, as they would have crushed just about any infantry short of a disiplined pike carrying formation. The 'core' of the (Western) Roman Empire military for centuries was the shortshort wielding infantry in 'loose' formation. They were fortunate in that they didn't have to face many foes with good heavy cavalry. The Romans did well against the spear carrying infantry of the Hellenistic world in the east, and the even 'looser' barbarian hordes of the north and west. However it was exactly those opponents with good cavalry (e.g. Parthians, Huns) that they struggled against.