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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2013 23:59:54 GMT -5
Posting about Roman Legions I once was part of a very interesting discussion about the Zulu and the Boer War in Sth Africa, our host was a businessman in Jo'berg and he had grown up with Zulu children and had much respect for those people. He told us that the Zulu were trained by the Romans to be mercenary soldiers and continued the training and protective units long after that period in time. Their shields, he explained, could deflect British rifle rounds.
They were made of animal skin stretched over a framework of timber hardened by fire and then with skin fitted dried in the sun coated with a mixture of materials that resulted in a steel like surface.
No wonder the British were in awe of Zulu warriors.
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Post by mcnoch on Jan 24, 2013 0:19:28 GMT -5
Yes, one doesn't know what advantages or disadvantages this battle truly brought for both sides. Those who had most benefits from the presence of the Romans were the merchants which so very early raised due to their riches into the higher ranks of the society and so the confrontation between rich merchants and the traditional elite happened much earlier and was less dramatic than those we saw in the 11-16 century in Southern Europe and the former southern areas of Germany, which had been occupied by the Romans too. The later Migration Period brought this idea more and more forcefully into the Southern societies.
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Post by mcnoch on Jan 24, 2013 0:26:36 GMT -5
I presume that a spear or a sword run through the chest or guts would be a little painful, and the following few minutes, quite noisy. You would have to go back to the Somme or Verdun to get anything like it. The British solider, a physician, told me that due to the 1:1 fighting style back then people were killed more or less swiftly, so you died or you got away. It was bad style to leave an opponent dying instead of dead. The mass of crippled soldiers or those dying in agony over hours or days were mainly a developed of the use of the first firearms with less impact-energy, fired over greater distance and en mass, aimed against whole units of the enemy.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2013 5:08:32 GMT -5
Germany was enriched by Vikings from Gotland Island (The Goths) who had a large population demanding more land than was available, a national ballot with compensation for losers resulted in many leaving. The Goths were a formidable force and they fought and settled lands through to Greece. My great grandfather was from Visby, Gotland.
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Post by Sir John on Jan 24, 2013 16:37:41 GMT -5
#17,
I did not know of any 'code of conduct' on the ancient battlefield, that is quite interesting. A bit different o modern warfare (WW1 and 2) when 5 men wounded usually meant one death and 4 recovered injuries. Now it is one in 10 die.
SJ
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Post by jerryfmcompushaft on Jan 24, 2013 22:33:48 GMT -5
Death in modern warfare has been reduced by improvements in evacuation of wounded and more rapid, more effective treatment of wounds.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2013 4:05:20 GMT -5
War is stupid
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