In ancient times, war chariots were extremely important on the battlefield. Often, it was the army that had such vehicles that won the confrontation. In the Middle East and the Mediterranean, chariots were used until 500 BC. e. By the beginning of the new era, they disappeared in Western Europe. Chariots lasted the longest in China and Southeast Asia, where they remained in demand until the late Middle Ages.
Importance of chariots
During battles, war chariots played the same role that tanks would have in the future. They were supposed to bring disorder into the ranks of the enemy. It was with the help of wagons that the dense ranks of the enemy broke through. On the chariots were spearmen, javelin throwers or archers. They destroyed the manpower of the enemy.
Like the cavalry, the chariots shocked and frightened the infantry unprepared for such a confrontation. Often the foot militias would scatter in terror from the wagons, not waiting for death to approach.
War chariots are also a noticeable indicator of the social stratification of society. They were owned only by the privileged inhabitants of the country. It took a lot of effort to get to the top of the gig. In addition, war chariots -this is a good incentive for the development of horse breeding in a single state.
Chariots in the Middle East
Researchers agree that the greatest efficiency of the gig has been achieved in the Middle East. They got here due to the penetration of the tribes of the Indian and Iranian language groups into the region.
In the III millennium BC, Syrian and Mesopotamian chariots appeared. They were distinguished by a typical rectangular shape with an elongated platform. Their width was about half the length. From here they came to Ancient Egypt, where they were especially popular.
Battle of Megiddo
In this connection it is important to mention the Battle of Megiddo. It was the first documented battle in human history. It took place in 1468 BC. Opponents were the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III and the Canaanite kings. What is a war chariot for that era? This is an elite military unit. The pharaoh himself led a column of gigs. He fired arrows at the Syrians and Palestinians, who eventually suffered a crushing defeat.
Arrowers were an important part of the Egyptian squad. Under Thutmose, they received the most efficient bows that a man could produce at that time. They were distinguished by high accuracy and mobility. Not a single light armor could withstand their blow. Ancient war chariots allowed archers to tower over infantry and seek out targets.
Battle of Kadesh
This was the golden age of wagons. The most massivethe use of chariots was recorded at the Battle of Kadesh. The forces of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and the Hittite king Muwatalli II clashed in it. The battle took place in the 13th century BC.
In the battle, both sides used a total of about 7 thousand chariots. It began with the fact that the Hittites suddenly attacked the Egyptian camp, which was left almost defenseless due to enemy maneuvers. Already in this attack hundreds of chariots were used. The Hittites managed to win at this initial stage.
However, the main Egyptian army under the leadership of the pharaoh himself was a few kilometers from the camp. This army moved in a retaliatory attack. The Egyptians also had chariots that spread terror among the infantry. The Hittites did not have spearmen to counter this type of force. However, in their army, the infantry had iron armor. This metal was a military and state secret. The Egyptians did not know how to smelt it. In fact, this was the last battle of the Bronze Age.
The battle did not reveal the winners. The number of chariots on both sides was approximately equal, resulting in parity. As a result, the Egyptians and the Hittites agreed to sign a peace treaty. At the same time, each country attributed the victory to itself. Nevertheless, it was here that the Egyptian invasion of the Middle East was stopped. This was largely facilitated by the Hittite war chariots.
The rise of riding and the decline of chariots
At the end of the second millennium BC, the decline of chariots began. It was associated with the fact that a person mastered ridingriding horses. Initially, this did not cancel the gig. However, it was much cheaper to maintain cavalry economically than wagons. Therefore, over time, war chariots began to disappear from the armies due to their inefficiency. The high cost was caused by the need to create various equipment.
How does a war chariot work? For her, first of all, harnesses are needed. It was they who were too expensive for widespread use. The blow was especially strong among the nomads. At the same time, the example of ancient China is indicative. During the battles in the Yellow River Valley, there were only about two hundred teams for six thousand infantrymen.
Socio-economic reasons for abandoning chariots
The use of carts was still justified from a military point of view. However, the knockout blow to them came after the disappearance of the social stratum of people who were brought up to become owners of chariots.
It included knowing. In many societies, the chariot also had a sacred meaning as a sign of power and might. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Roman emperors, after important victories, entered the capital in triumph in a gig. With the advent of new types of metal, as well as other types of troops, the chariot came to naught. It was successfully replaced by the cavalry.
Weighted teams in Assyria
Many nations created their own modifications of this type of troops. For example, the Assyrians began to use new shock harnesses. In such carts there were 4 horses and the same number of soldiers. One ofthey always had a shield with them in order to protect their crewmates from attacks by spearmen. Such "weighting" eventually became characteristic of other states.
Chariots in China
What is a Chinese war chariot? Eastern civilization began to use it for defensive purposes (and not offensive, as was customary in other societies). To do this, a detachment of 5-7 chariots lined up in the form of a tower, which was surrounded by dense infantry. In the event of an enemy attack, such defensive redoubts fired at approaching enemies. Also in the east, another feature appeared. Instead of bows, slingshots were used here.
Nevertheless, light carriages were still used in flying attacks on enemy formations. If heavy chariots were effective in defense, then mobile and fast small gigs were rapidly advancing on the opponent.
The use of wagons in China was also associated with the proximity of the steppes. It was from them that the Han people received the first horses, which, by the way, adapted to the new living conditions for a long time. The wagon owners were the military elite of the Chinese principalities. Each small local state had about 200-300 chariots in the active army.
Over time, the wagons gradually increased in size. Became more and their crew. In parallel with this, the number of accompanying infantrymen decreased (from 80 to 10). This meant that battles between armies turned into huge clashes of chariots. In such battles, the role of the infantry became increasinglymore insignificant. This ratio is similar to the situation when, in medieval Europe, detachments of armed knights began to form the basis of the army.
Steppes
For the steppes, chariots became an advantage that allowed numerous wild peoples to stage deafening raids over vast territories. From the Mediterranean to the Pacific, invasions led to the decline of sedentary cultures. The chariots allowed the steppes to gain an advantage on the battlefield.
They had the hardiest and strongest horses in the whole world. Animals fed on high-quality fodder and steppe grasses became a formidable force, including in a chariot team.
The Chinese who lived in the valleys of Mesopotamia were particularly hard hit. For several millennia, the struggle between landowners and nomads continued. In it, the presence of chariots was one of the important trump cards.
The impact of the inhabitants of the steppes fell even on Ancient Egypt. However, the people of this great civilization were more fortunate than the Chinese. They were further from the steppe regions. In addition, they managed to effectively adopt the very technology of chariots from the nomads.
Infantry tactics
During several centuries of chariot warfare, the infantry has developed several techniques against this type of enemy. One of the most common was the tactic in which the cart was passed to the rear, where it choked and became easy prey for land warriors.
The Romans in the era of Julius Caesar managed to negate the advantage of chariots with scythes. Infantry startoperate in loose formation, in which such weapons became useless. Because of this, the Romans won wars with the Seleucids, in whose army carts occupied a significant place.
In Greece and Rome
In Greece, the war chariots of antiquity lasted a particularly long time until the Persian Wars in the 4th century BC. e. The use of such phalanxes was necessary to increase the maneuverability of the army. In addition, in ancient Greece, chariots were preserved in sports competitions. At the Olympic Games, wheelchair races were met with particular anticipation by the public.
What is a war chariot for Ancient Rome? The attitude towards her in this society was similar to the Greek. This was due to the fact that the Romans never destroyed the orders of conquered peoples. On the contrary, they often adopted the very best in the culture and achievements of their neighbors.
Therefore, it is not surprising that this is how the Romans got their own war chariot. The definition of its role in the war depended on the specific case. Especially many carriages were used in the Punic wars against Carthage.
The Romans built hippodromes for chariot races. Circus Maximus could accommodate up to 150,000 spectators. Julius Caesar rebuilt it and expanded it. This, in turn, means that the Romans continued to use war chariots until our era. Interestingly, in the course of technical evolution, Europeans began to use old carriages as carriages for mobile ballistas.
What is a war chariot? It is also a symbol of antiquity. By the time the Roman Empire surroundedMediterranean Sea, chariots began to disappear from the legions. They were ineffective against the numerous northern barbarians. Instead of the old wagons, the cavalry familiar to the Middle Ages came.
Scythed Chariots
Among the numerous modifications, war chariots with iron scythes were especially noteworthy. They first appeared among the Assyrians. These inhabitants of the Middle East decided to improve the old chariots. Long knives were attached to the wheels. They wounded the numerous enemy infantry that surrounded the wagons during the fierce battles. The terrifying scythes frightened away the warriors, who shunned them and fled in panic.
Later other technical solutions appeared. What did these types of war chariots look like? They also added scythes to the drawbar of such wagons, which allowed them to ram the enemy cavalry in a head-on collision.
Similar chariots were popular in Persia. They were harnessed by 4 horses. The crew consisted of 3 people. One of them was a charioteer. The other two were warriors who crushed the enemy.
The scythes helped to break order in the formation of the infantry. If the formation did not dissipate completely, then at least noticeable gaps appeared in it. Friendly soldiers rushed into them, who did not allow the enemy to close the defeated ranks. What does a war chariot mean in such a situation? She was the guarantor of success in a head-on collision of armies.
Unlike regular cavalry, scythe wagons made it possible to literally cut through the ranks of the enemy. Against this background, ordinary mounted warriors wereweak against dense Greek phalanxes. In addition, the most ancient cavalry did not have comfortable saddles, spurs and other useful things that appeared only in the Middle Ages. Therefore, until our era, chariots successfully competed with riders on horseback, despite the comparative high cost.
