Chariot tactics
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The first depictions of four-wheeled wagons pulled by semi-domesticated onagers and other available animals come from the
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
ians. The next step was towards faster
chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
s with
spoke A spoke is one of some number of rods radiating from the center of a wheel (the hub where the axle connects), connecting the hub with the round traction surface. The term originally referred to portions of a log that had been riven (split l ...
-wheels. Lighter wheels made lighter constructions possible. This made it feasible to outrun light infantry and other chariots. Additionally, the development of short composite bows made it a devastating weapon.
Sling sling may refer to: Places *Sling, Anglesey, Wales *Sling, Gloucestershire, England, a small village in the Forest of Dean People with the name * Otto Šling (1912–1952), repressed Czech communist functionary Arts, entertainment, and media * ...
ers and
javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...
ers, who could counterattack and protect the other troops, had no armor protection or shield discipline. They were skirmishers, keeping out of enemy range. But the moving chariots showering them with arrows were difficult to hit so they were rendered helpless against these. The role and tactics of war chariots are often compared to
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s in modern warfare but this is disputed with scholars pointing out that chariots were vulnerable and fragile, required a level terrain while tanks are all-terrain vehicles, and thus not suitable for use in the way modern tanks have been used as a physical shock force. Chariots, carts and wagons still had the disadvantage of using more than one
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
per transported soldier. Riders achieved supremacy through greater manoeuverability than chariots in the 1st millennium BCE, as soon as the domesticated horse had been bred large enough to carry an armed man.


Chariot and elephant warfare

The chariot was restricted to terrains with level ground and plenty of space. It was the core of most cavalries, and diversified into shock-troops and commanding centers. Agile infantry and early troops on horseback provided them protection and additional fighting power.


Light and medium chariots

There were two different ways for light chariots to operate on the battlefield. One was to have on each chariot one warrior/archer and one driver/shieldbearer. Apart from the shield, both crewmen were fully armored and their horses were barded. The archer used a composite bow, of superior power and range, shooting heavy bronze-pointed arrows which were capable of piercing armor and transfixing a man. Disciplined companies of chariots used
hit-and-run tactics Hit-and-run tactics are a tactical doctrine of using short surprise attacks, withdrawing before the enemy can respond in force, and constantly maneuvering to avoid full engagement with the enemy. The purpose is not to decisively defeat the ene ...
to wear down enemy forces, pulling into range, stopping to shoot a volley or three, then wheeling away before the enemy could retaliate. Another method was using melee weapons. Chariots could terrorize and scatter an enemy force by charging, threatening to run over enemy foot soldiers and attacking them with a variety of short range weapons, such as javelin, spear and axe. However, this did leave them much more vulnerable, as a single injured horse could stop and leave the chariot in the midst of the enemy. Light chariots could be dismantled and carried across unfavorable terrain which heavier types could not, which enhanced their efficiency for warfare. The
Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic chariot (
essedum A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000  ...
) was the longest lasting to be used in battles. It had a light and agile structure. A heavily armoured warrior stood on a small platform with two independent-running spoked wheels. His charioteer sat on a thick rope net connecting the platform to the horses. It could quickly carry the nobleman into battle and evacuate him in case of trouble, basically acting like
mounted infantry Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially m ...
. It was used on the Continent from the 700 BCE to 100 BCE and in Britain and Ireland until the year 200 CE. This tactic is similar to the dismounted
men-at-arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a knig ...
or modern
mechanized infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also mechanized force). As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is di ...
today.


Heavy chariots as shock-troops

These were, until the advent of the war elephant in South Asia, the only cavalry shock-troops available. Usually they were employed beside troops on horseback. Up to four men stood on a chariot, wielding polearms and close combat weapons. Javelins and bows were employed for range fighting. This chariot was a heavy construction and moved relatively slowly. Light infantry could keep up with them. The momentum of this heavy chariot was sufficient to break through enemy formations, causing an effect similar to heavy cavalry with lances. Some generals, such as Cyrus II and Darius III of Persia and Mithridates of Pontus attached scythes to their chariot forces' wheels, in the further hope of breaking up enemy formations. Historically, however, this tactic had at best mixed success, either because the horses would not charge directly into closely packed formations or because the opposing force would simply stand far enough apart from each other to avoid the scythes and then pull out the drivers as they rode through the gaps created.


Indian chariots and war elephants

Indian chariots combined the security of a chariot. By this time, infantry had learned to avoid chariots by forming passages and then attacking them in the back. The elephant introduced a new danger to an enemy formation, being equally dangerous for the infantry from the front or behind. The chariots could relatively securely follow the elephants and assist with arrowfire into the gaps. After the Greeks had their first contact in the
battle of Gaugamela The Battle of Gaugamela (; grc, Γαυγάμηλα, translit=Gaugámela), also called the Battle of Arbela ( grc, Ἄρβηλα, translit=Árbela), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great a ...
, this new tactic soon totally substituted chariots among shock-troops around the Mediterranean.
Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...
tells that the
Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...
"Suru" was the last one surviving after
Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
`s passage over the Alps. The Indian chariots were supplanted by skirmishers with range weapons. The higher density of shots and better aiming of infantry upgraded this weapon system. Elephants were used for frontal assaults against heavy infantry and for massive flanking maneuvers. They could reach a top speed of 30 km/h. Depending on the grade of their equipment it was now possible for cheaper light infantry to stand their ground against their heavy counterpart. The moving of an elephant through most battle formations seemed at first unstoppable.


Sources


Polybius on the Celtic Chariot and warfare
*Bronze Age War Chariots (New Vanguard) by Nic Fields (Author), Brian Delf (Illustrator)


References

{{reflist Chariots