Humankind has been engaging in animosity against each other throughout history for power, glory & greed. It is found that the first war took place in 1479 BCE in ancient Egypt under two major leaders. From then to this day, our race has been involved in armed conflicts from time to time.
In this article, we will discuss some of the greatest war tactics that took place in history.
1.Left flank
Julius Caesar is named one of the greatest warlords of the ancient world. Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra trio even elevated themselves to the higher level of history that Shakespear wrote novels featuring them. In 48 to 50 BCE there was a civil war that took place in Egypt named the “Battle of Pharsalus”. Here Julius used a technique.
He had hidden a special reserve infantry behind his army. When the battle started, this reserved flank moved in an almost round-shaped path, circling the battlefield & attacking the enemies from their right side. In a face to face combat, acknowledging attack from another direction, the enemies were left astonished. They were exposed to an attack that was becoming stronger from time to time but couldn’t help fleeing & finally resulting in their lose
2.Inverted wedge
This tactic was used by general Hannibal in the “Battle of Canae”. in 216 BCE, the Romans forged a war against Hannibal with 86.000 men massive army & very heavy cavalry. Hannibal appointed a technique to quickly surround the enemies. As face-to-face combat could cause heavy damage considering Roman’s heavy cavalry. His middle flanks seemed like retreating from the battleground.
The Romans pushed them & followed them. But meanwhile, the other right & left flanks of Hannibal pushed forward & slowly encircled the Romans. The Romans suddenly understood they had fallen into a trap & were facing attacks from every side. Hannibal won this battle as the opponent suffered a massive loss.
3.The crescent
The Roman-Byzantines were enemies to Muslims from both geographical & religious perspectives since the birth of Islam. The conflict lasted for centuries after centuries giving us some of the greatest war tactics examples. In 1074, the Byzantines attacked the Muslim Seljuk empire. Sultan Arslan himself led the Seljuk army to the battleground. The Romans outnumbered the Seljuks as usual.
When the battle started it also seemed that maybe it was going in their favor. They started chasing the enemy. But, actually what happened was the army became disbanded & lost cohesion with each other. It was exactly what the Sultan wanted. He quickly formed a half-moon crescent-shaped as planned before & attacked the unorganized Romas. Soon, the scenario was total upside down. Thousands of the Romans were killed & captured, the rest of them fled. the “Battle of Manziker” was won by the Seljuks.
Written by
Md. Shafkat Imon
Intern, YSSE
