The Crusaders participating in the Battle of Constantinople were mainly from France and Germany, with the Venetians responsible for maritime support.

Although France was still in a feudal state in the early 13th century, with a weak sense of centralization and far less powerful than the later "bold" Charles period. It was not until the Hundred Years War that France became "perverted", but France's current strength is not bad in Europe.

In particular, their heavy cavalry was extremely powerful. During the Crusades, they even set an astonishing record in which a few hundred knights defeated Saladin's tens of thousands of troops. They also severely damaged the Roman army many times in the Battle of Constantinople.

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The most powerful thing about heavy cavalry is their mobility and impact. A heavily armored war horse weighs about half a ton, plus a heavily armored knight, which is equivalent to a car heading towards the country at a speed of at least 60 kilometers per hour.

You are coming at speed, can you block it? In an instant, you can knock a strong man to pieces, even a heavy infantryman wearing heavy armor, not to mention the powerful impact of the heavy cavalry.

Will he be missing arms or legs? Even his internal organs may be shattered.

Some people would say that the pike phalanx can solve the problem of heavy cavalry, such as the Macedonian phalanx, but in fact, the pike phalanx alone cannot solve the problem of heavy cavalry at all, not to mention that the Macedonian phalanx was not originally used to fight cavalry, but

It's against infantry.

Just imagine, even if a regular army is in a square formation, holding a sharp spear, and you are one of them. And the other party is dozens or even hundreds of heavy cavalry rushing towards you, and they ask you if you panic?

Your comrades also have the same idea as you. The morale of ordinary soldiers is very high when they face heavy cavalry. The strong sense of oppression can almost make you unable to breathe. The opponent is a "tank", and they all look scared.

Therefore, unless you are an elite veteran who has experienced hundreds of battles, you will be immune to the morale blow caused by the cavalry. Otherwise, you will probably be defeated before the battle begins, and the enemy's heavy cavalry will be killed by the way.

This was the case when the Eastern Roman army faced Norman heavy cavalry or Frankish heavy cavalry. Many peasant soldiers felt their scalp numb when they saw the heavy cavalry rushing towards them. They immediately dropped their weapons and ran away. The army's defensive formations naturally spread out randomly, while the heavy cavalry on the opposite side caught them.

Seize this opportunity and charge with guns, and the harvest will follow.

As the name implies, the knight holds the handle of the spear under his armpits and holds the gun body with his right hand. The power of the gun charge is that its impact is very high, like a bison, but its disadvantages are also obvious.

, that is, he is not good at melee combat, and usually expects to take away the opponent in one wave when charging, or to defeat the opponent in one wave of charge.

There is also a kind of charge in which the knight holds a spear with one hand and attacks the opponent. Compared with the charge with a gun, the impact of this type is not high, but the melee combat ability will be improved a lot. (In fact, it only improves a little.

Melee combat is still very difficult, especially when surrounded, and the opponent will not be able to be eliminated for a while. In this case, many knights will choose to dismount and change their weapons to swords.)

During the Hundred Years' War between England and France, the English longbowmen did inflict a heavy blow on the French heavy cavalry, but this was an exception. The longbowmen relied on blocking horses, trenches, traps and layers of terrain, which greatly slowed down the cavalry's mobility.

and charging efficiency; if it is placed on the plain, Grandpa Knight will simply ignore the bow and arrow and just charge.

During the Hussite Wars, the defenders relied on a defensive formation composed of carriages, musketeers, spearmen and crossbowmen, which greatly destroyed the attacking cavalry units.

Normally, a unit that can resist heavy cavalry should be equipped with enough spearmen, archers, crossbowmen, swordsmen (or axemen), musketeers, etc.

(However, considering that gunpowder was not used in European military affairs in the 13th century, the unit of musketeers had to be excluded)

The above points clarify the three major elements for fighting heavy cavalry. The first is to emphasize the discipline and formation of officers and soldiers. They must be fearless when facing cavalry. The only way to resist cavalry is formation. Maintaining formation mainly relies on discipline;

The second is to emphasize the importance of equipment and terrain. If the soldiers' equipment is not in place, they will be overwhelmed by the knights. The third is the organization of the army. An army composed of multiple arms is always better than a single arm. In modern or

This was true in ancient times.

If Alexius wants to defeat the Latin Empire, he must first defeat their heavy cavalry. He must form a force that can resist the heavy cavalry, rather than a team that will be scared to death when seeing the heavy cavalry.

Over the years, the Roman Empire has been psychologically shadowed by the Norman and Frankish knights, almost forming a myth of "invincibility" in the Roman army. But Alexius did not believe in this evil. No matter how strong the heavy cavalry is, they are still human.

It's a pair of shoulders carrying a head, who is afraid of whom?

If the archers cannot penetrate their armor, they will stab them with spears; if they cannot penetrate their armor, they will chop them with swords; if they cannot cut them, they will kill them with axes.

If you can't beat them head-on, you'll use guerrilla warfare, harassing logistics, and scorched-earth tactics. If they want to sleep, they'll beat gongs and drums in the middle of the night to shout funerals. If they want to eat, they'll pull ollies in front of their formation. In short, they'll make the opponent sick to the extreme, and they'll definitely fight.

Win this battle.

Medieval Europeans believed in trustworthiness when fighting wars. They would not fight if they refused to fight. They would release people immediately if they paid money. They would also inform their opponents in advance if they said they were going to fight tomorrow.

For example, Saladin besieged Jerusalem and said that as long as he was willing to pay a ransom, he could surrender and go wherever he wanted, and he did it. For example, Suleiman of the Ottomans besieged the Knights Hospitallers of Rhodes Island, and the fight was in darkness and suffered heavy losses. In the end, the Knights Hospitallers and the Sultan

They negotiated and agreed to surrender after paying a ransom. After surrendering their weapons, they really escaped and finally ran to Malta to make a fuss. Another example is that King Bello IV of Hungary was captured by Duke Frederick of Austria in a chaotic war and paid a ransom.

The other party will release the person immediately and will never vote against him.

Mongolians like to bully honest people in Europe. If you don't believe me, just ask the Russians.

How did the Mongols come to Europe?

In 1223 AD, Subotai and Jebe led their armies against the Kuman-Russian coalition. They first fled in sheep's clothing, showing that they were at the end of their rope, and finally launched a defensive counterattack and won a great victory.

If defensive counterattack can be considered a smart strategy, then in the siege, the Mongols' performance began to show the "means" of the Orientals.

After realizing that the siege would not be successful for a while, the Mongolian army began to beat their chests and swear that if the other party was willing to surrender, they would release them immediately after paying the ransom and would not refuse. The Grand Dukes of Kievan Rus believed it and left the fortress. In the end, they were collectively released by the Mongols at a celebration banquet.

Crushed to death under the floor (I guess the Mongolians were not used to it at first. Are there really such idiots in the world?)
Chapter completed!