Hello everybody! Along with discoveries in the universe, modern technology and engineering, I am fond of history. Including military history. I am not a supporter of wars, but plunging into historical events it is interesting to study the cause and consequences of wars, as well as unusual strategies that were used by military leaders at all times of mankind.
From time to time I watch films about the Middle Ages and medieval wars. These harsh times are the most interesting to me. Although I also like fantasy films like The Lord of the Rings. Well, today is not about that. Yesterday I remastered a movie called Kingdom of Heaven. In short, in this film the young baron of the Crusaders defended the holy city of Jerusalem from the Saracens. In the end, they had to give up, and I decided to delve into this period of history. I will devote this article to the interesting tactics of the battle of that era.
I used to work as a copywriter for a military history website. I don't know if this topic will be interesting to read.cash, but I decided to dedicate a post to this.
Perhaps many have heard of such a concept as the Crusades. This is a long period of time and bloody wars in the holy land. The first crusade was triumphant and allowed the Crusaders to capture many territories. But the enemies of the crusaders, the Muslims, wanted revenge and return the lost lands to themselves. In the 12th century, the Muslims had a leader who was able to unite Syria and Egypt into a single state and gather a huge army. In Europe he was known as Saladin.
In the end, Saladin managed to win many victories and capture many key locations. By the way, it was he who was at the head of the army during the capture of Jerusalem, as shown in the film Kingdom of Heaven.
In response to this, the Pope Pontiff organized another crusade. He longed for revenge with the Muslims and the return of Jerusalem under his control. The king of France, the Austrian duke, the German emperor and the well-known monarch of Britain, Richard the Lionheart, acted as a striking force.
Actions began around mid-1190. The armies of the British and French marched in parallel, but were later forced to split. The fact is that the British troops needed to solve the problem with the lack of provisions. To do this, they went to Sicily, and then returned to the offensive company. Richard the Lionheart captured the island of Crete and headed for the Akra fortress. This castle was positioned as the last stronghold before Jerusalem.
By this time, the fortress was already besieged by crusaders from other countries. However, the garrison of Acre was well prepared and, moreover, Saladin's troops arrived at this time. The crusaders were forced to split their forces into two fronts. On the one hand, they held the troops of Saladin, do not let them unite with the garrison of the fortress. Because of this, the crusaders did not have enough troops to organize a decisive assault on the fortress. Arriving in time, Richard the Lionheart came up with a unique plan.
The English king used military cunning, not force. He ordered to find the bees and put them in open clay pots. After that, these pots were placed on the catapults and thrown over the camps of the castle. The Muslim wars did not expect evil bees to emerge from the evolved containers. Since the defenders did not wear closed clothes, the bees easily stung them in all open places on the body.
The bees deprived the Muslims of the opportunity to fully defend the walls of the fortress. At this point, several hundred crusaders stormed Acre and opened the gates for the rest of the allies. Seeing that the castle was captured, Saladin was forced to abandon the re-assault on the fortress and leave it to the crusaders.
Despite such a bold military decision, the Third Crusade can be called a failure. The main mission - Jerusalem was never captured. This was due to the constant strife between the kings of Europe. Soon the troops began to leave for their homeland, and it was decided to conclude a truce with Saladin.
The story is full of interesting facts, war strategies and love stories. I like to look back and admire or look at the mistakes of our ancestors. In addition to military battles, I enjoy watching the history of medicine and its development. Perhaps in the next articles I will talk about this, but for this you need to study this topic thoroughly.
Thank you for your attention and I hope this topic will be at least a little interesting.
