General History Questions thread
- Thread starter Almalexia
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Atilla.
Timurlane by a long way. His entire life was a campaign and he even sacked his own cities.
Why is it that in Europe and the Eurasian steppes you don't find much mention of the use of poison arrows. Was it that the substances to make poison arrows that could act quickly and be effective in battle weren't very common compared to more tropical places? Or was it that since armies in Eurasia tended to be larger than places like Central Africa or the northern parts South America and that made it even harder to procure the poisons in useful amounts? Something else?
Also there is mention of the Slavic people using poison arrows during the migration period but after that they seemed to have stopped. Any good reason for that that we know of?
Also there is mention of the Slavic people using poison arrows during the migration period but after that they seemed to have stopped. Any good reason for that that we know of?
Poisons were often hard to get hold of in cooler climates and it was just as effective to just stick your arrow in the dirt.
FrisianDude
Archduke
no wonder the 'English' French lost against the French French in the war, who the **** takes a cesspit with them?mcwiggum said:
Also probably more likely the same mud.
And given the length of battles, they'd need them anyway. I recall several primary sources where soldiers would use the crapper mid-battle.
Every army in the world, throughout history, made cesspits during encampment.
Where you take a dump may not seem too important, but even with just 10~20 people, 'taking care of **** smartly' becomes a hugely important management issue while camping out in the field for prolonged periods of time. Stepping into the bushes and finding out that its just littered with poop everywhere, actually has a HUGE impact in the QOL(quality of life) of soldiers in the field. Waking up in the mornings where the wet air is just full of crappy smell of **** and piss is also very, very bad... and believe it or not, works as a HUGE demoralizing factor for the army.
Therefore, every army of the world, in every stage of history, had their own field manual as to how to take care of all that crap.
Where you dig the pit and how you take care of it was serious business.
Maybe they were just really big cesspits, and the British being accustomed to really shallow trenches? The Italians were big eaters, after all.MadVader said:
Sounds more like the thing rival units would do.RC-1136 said:In "Band of Brothers" there is a scene (apparently based on real history) in which the Easy Company returns to the front to find their foxholes covered in the **** of the company who replaced them. Maybe there is some kind of a military tradition
