Don’t know who that is, but looks like a history youtuber.
While incendiaries were not used at every possible opportunity, as movies and games sometimes portray, fire has a long history of military usage, including specialized means for delivery. Julius Caesar, of dictator and conqueror fame, once used heated sling bullets to set thatched roofs on fire; Spanish guerillas against Roman occupation were known to use metal javelins wrapped in flammable materials, and so on.
I hate watching videos, but the first few seconds show movies where fire arrows are being launched at troops, which was rare (though not completely unheard of as a terror tactic). Generally, incendiary projectiles were used for purposes wherein fire would be, uh, useful, like setting fire to buildings, camps, supplies, ships, siege weapons, or flammable environs.
Yeah. Technically he qualified it by saying he didn’t think they were used “in open battle,” and his reasons were probably accurate, but yes he’s missing a whole category of use for which they probably were super useful.
Love this videos but somethings I just plain disagree with. Horses, in war, a dumb idea? I just feel like he’s personally not got the best relationship with the species.
It might be he’s arguing specifically against cavalry though, not horses, but I remember thinking he just sounds like he’s not comfortable on horses.
Which I find odd, as he loves dancing and I feel those two are pretty similar.
A horse-drawn cart is very awkward indeed in comparison to how nimble a good rider on a horse can be. I don’t remember the content of the video and am not listening to it rn
Yeah… I think this is just wrong. It think you’re right that he is just making a big authoritative sounding thing based on his personal experience on horses and guessing and extrapolation and some light confirmation-bias research.
Lindybeige is a self proclaimed expert who just calls things as he sees it. He’s no researcher, he’s no craftsman. Your better of watching Todd from Todd’s workshop, he does actual experiments with medieval weaponry.
But lb is just a blabbering buffoon with an British exceptionalist worldview who loves the aroma of his own petards.
The way they’re often used in movies by firing basic flaming arrows into groups of soldiers is often not accurate(although there are records of East Asian troops using gunpowder based rocket arrows against soldiers).
However, flaming arrows have been historically used in sieges for a long time. We have records going back 2700 years of arrows having something tied around the tip that was soaked in oil and lit on fire. Just look at the posted picture, those are real “cage” style flaming arrows
We even have actual examples of arrows from the 1400s with a saltpeter compound on it that burns under water.
Haven’t watched the video from Lindybeige; but, here’s a rather good video on what incendiary arrows (like the ones pictured) would have been like. We have evidence of medieval (and earlier) use of incendiary devices in warfare (QED, the arrows pictured). Though, probably nothing like what is shown in movies.
Lindybeige told me this was fake, though
Don’t know who that is, but looks like a history youtuber.
While incendiaries were not used at every possible opportunity, as movies and games sometimes portray, fire has a long history of military usage, including specialized means for delivery. Julius Caesar, of dictator and conqueror fame, once used heated sling bullets to set thatched roofs on fire; Spanish guerillas against Roman occupation were known to use metal javelins wrapped in flammable materials, and so on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTd_0FRAwOQ
In fairness, he seems to base it purely on himself saying “it’s a stupid idea” and not on any historical research that he cites explicitly.
I hate watching videos, but the first few seconds show movies where fire arrows are being launched at troops, which was rare (though not completely unheard of as a terror tactic). Generally, incendiary projectiles were used for purposes wherein fire would be, uh, useful, like setting fire to buildings, camps, supplies, ships, siege weapons, or flammable environs.
Yeah. Technically he qualified it by saying he didn’t think they were used “in open battle,” and his reasons were probably accurate, but yes he’s missing a whole category of use for which they probably were super useful.
Love this videos but somethings I just plain disagree with. Horses, in war, a dumb idea? I just feel like he’s personally not got the best relationship with the species.
When did he say horses in war were dumb? Yeah, that’s wrong.
Cavalry was a stupid idea
It might be he’s arguing specifically against cavalry though, not horses, but I remember thinking he just sounds like he’s not comfortable on horses.
Which I find odd, as he loves dancing and I feel those two are pretty similar.
A horse-drawn cart is very awkward indeed in comparison to how nimble a good rider on a horse can be. I don’t remember the content of the video and am not listening to it rn
Yeah… I think this is just wrong. It think you’re right that he is just making a big authoritative sounding thing based on his personal experience on horses and guessing and extrapolation and some light confirmation-bias research.
IDK, I thought this guy was legit, but maybe not.
Oh Lord.
Lindybeige is a self proclaimed expert who just calls things as he sees it. He’s no researcher, he’s no craftsman. Your better of watching Todd from Todd’s workshop, he does actual experiments with medieval weaponry.
But lb is just a blabbering buffoon with an British exceptionalist worldview who loves the aroma of his own petards.
Yeah. I just removed him from [email protected]. If you’re going to be a nerd, you need to know what you’re talking about.
Ty!
The way they’re often used in movies by firing basic flaming arrows into groups of soldiers is often not accurate(although there are records of East Asian troops using gunpowder based rocket arrows against soldiers).
However, flaming arrows have been historically used in sieges for a long time. We have records going back 2700 years of arrows having something tied around the tip that was soaked in oil and lit on fire. Just look at the posted picture, those are real “cage” style flaming arrows
We even have actual examples of arrows from the 1400s with a saltpeter compound on it that burns under water.
Haven’t watched the video from Lindybeige; but, here’s a rather good video on what incendiary arrows (like the ones pictured) would have been like. We have evidence of medieval (and earlier) use of incendiary devices in warfare (QED, the arrows pictured). Though, probably nothing like what is shown in movies.