The Battle of Lechfeld and its Aftermath, August 955: The End of the Age of Migrations in the Latin WestRoutledge, 5 déc. 2016 - 247 pages In August 955 a battle took place that effectively ended the incursions of steppe nomads into Western Europe. The forces of Otto the Great annihilated a huge army of Hungarian mounted archers in an encounter that is generally known as the battle of Lechfeld, a broad plain near Augsburg in southern Germany. Since even after a defeat these elusive warriors surely could have fled back to the Carpathian Basin to rebuild their strength and resume their raids, the total annihilation of the Hungarian army is mysterious. This book provides the first satisfactory explanation for the decisive nature of Otto's victory. Based on a detailed analysis of all contemporary, and often contradictory, sources, Bowlus provides a step-by-step reconstruction of the battle. This is preceded by chapters analysing the administrative and military reforms in tenth-century Germany, and the strengths and weaknesses of nomadic styles of warfare, in particular their archery, and setting out the historical context in which the battle occurred. A pioneering aspect of his research is the introduction of environmental factors, not only the limits they imposed on the expansion of the nomadic way of life into Europe, but also the impact the local environment had on the outcome of the battle. |
Table des matières
Hungarian Warfare | |
The Reforms of Henry I in Saxony | |
Hungarians and the Latin West | |
The Way to the Lechfeld | |
The Way from the Lechfeld | |
Hungarian Defeat Ottonian Victory | |
Sources Concerning The Battle Annals | |
The Military Reforms Of Henry I | |
Index | |
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agrarii milites Alföld Annales annihilated armed Arnulf arrows attack Augsburg August Avars battle of Lechfeld Bavaria Bishop Ulrich Bohemians Bowlus Byzantine campaign Carantania Carolingian Carpathian Basin commanders composite bows Conrad Conrad the Red Corvey Danube defeat defenseindepth duchy Duke Henry East Frankish Ebersberg encounter enemy enemy’s equestrian Europe exercitus expeditions flank fleeing forest fortifications fortress Franconia Freising Gerhard Hahnsche Buchhandlung Hannover heavy cavalry Henry’s historians horse archers horsemen Hungarian army Iller infantry invaded invasion Isar Jahrhundert kilometers king king’s large number Lawrence patronyms leader Lech Leyser Liudolf Liutpoldinger Liutpoldings Magyar army Magyars Medieval military missiles Mittelalters mounted archers Munich Otto Otto’s forces Ottonian pastures rear Regensburg region Reindel Res gestae Saxonicae retreat river crossings Roman Salzburg Saxon Saxon monk siege Slavs soldiers St Lawrence church St Lawrence’s Day steppe steppe warriors strategy Studien Swabian tactical tenth century territory Ungarn Vegetius Verlag victory weapons western Widukind