re: Medieval battles

quote:

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Big swords did exist, they just weren't as prevalent as in the movies Bc men didn't want to die. I was mostly thinking of medieval warriors.

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But the long sword didn't become the prevalent sword during the medieval period because it was "better" - it was because it offered the reach required to fight from horseback. When knights became the dominant military force, infantry began to revert back to spear walls to resist cavalry charges - in some cases, the spears became ridiculously long. And, of course many knights ended up riding to the assembly area, but fighting dismounted (as most of Henry's knights did at Agincourt), as required by the terrain - but you didn't bring a lot of swords with you, so you fought with what you had.

There are some misconceptions about ancient combat as well, in this thread. The Romans didn't fight "shield-to-shield", shoulder to shoulder like the Greek hoplites. Although the limited part of the battlefield depicted in the early episode of Rome appears accurate, they were in a mopping up phase and trying to reduce casualties - that battle was already won. Romans precisely rejected the passive, hoplite combat in favor of the legion in order to cover more space with the same number of troops and reintroduce a little more maneuver and initiative in their infantry units. Romans relied almost exclusively on heavy infantry from the late republic period onward. They were mediocre cavalrymen, at best, and resorted to hiring most of their skirmish, missile and mounted troops as "auxiliaries."

Medieval combat did evolve from this foundation, but the feudal knight reigned supreme for almost 1000 years. It was a lot of individual combat, once battle was joined.