Reading a book by Harry Turtledove, seafarers from Rhodes in the time about 100 years after the battle for Troy. Their merchant ship has a ram—a big spike meant to be, errr, rammed into the side of a ship it was fighting so making a big hole and so sinking the ship.
Oars gave way to sails, couldn’t use a ram on a sailing ship, Yet ramming and rams came back—in the fleets of the Union and Confederacy! Steam power made ramming a valid technique again!
The Merrimac had a ram—and huge cannon. The Monitor did not have a ram, plenty of armor tho—I guess sort of a Middle Ages weapon, armor for defence. The Mississippi river fleets of the Union and Confederacy had rams and they were used.
Can’t think of any other classic or Middle Ages techniques or weapons came back. Slings, arrows, spears, catapults never came back. The phalanx never came back either—the Romans easily defeated Greek phalanxes.
I suppose things like Iron Age hill forts came back in Civil War and WWI entrenchments.
Booby’s mythical “King” Arthur would have been a fifth century Briton chief, from a century or so after the Romans had left Britain and the Vikings were invading and looting England. Makes Merlin, a shaman, more likely—Druidic rituals etc. Tintagel a likely place for “Arthur” to be born and raised in, a fort. Forts yes, castles no, they needed the Norman invasion in 1099 to become real.
Castles never came back, except perhaps as battle tanks but tho armored they are very much offensive weapons not defensive. Not really a return of the chariot. British and US tanks were not much of a match for the German panzers, maybe the Sherman Firefly was? British Churchill tank had a longer life—made an ideal flamethrower tanks (crews from Centurion tank flamethrower were not treated very kindly by their German captors. Was this “Greek fire” returned? Not really I think.
Rams are the only one of the Classic Era weapons unambiguously to come back to active use in modern times and their comeback didn’t last long, less than 4 years. Maybe submarines and their torpedoes are an extension of the ram?
Oars gave way to sails, couldn’t use a ram on a sailing ship, Yet ramming and rams came back—in the fleets of the Union and Confederacy! Steam power made ramming a valid technique again!
The Merrimac had a ram—and huge cannon. The Monitor did not have a ram, plenty of armor tho—I guess sort of a Middle Ages weapon, armor for defence. The Mississippi river fleets of the Union and Confederacy had rams and they were used.
Can’t think of any other classic or Middle Ages techniques or weapons came back. Slings, arrows, spears, catapults never came back. The phalanx never came back either—the Romans easily defeated Greek phalanxes.
I suppose things like Iron Age hill forts came back in Civil War and WWI entrenchments.
Booby’s mythical “King” Arthur would have been a fifth century Briton chief, from a century or so after the Romans had left Britain and the Vikings were invading and looting England. Makes Merlin, a shaman, more likely—Druidic rituals etc. Tintagel a likely place for “Arthur” to be born and raised in, a fort. Forts yes, castles no, they needed the Norman invasion in 1099 to become real.
Castles never came back, except perhaps as battle tanks but tho armored they are very much offensive weapons not defensive. Not really a return of the chariot. British and US tanks were not much of a match for the German panzers, maybe the Sherman Firefly was? British Churchill tank had a longer life—made an ideal flamethrower tanks (crews from Centurion tank flamethrower were not treated very kindly by their German captors. Was this “Greek fire” returned? Not really I think.
Rams are the only one of the Classic Era weapons unambiguously to come back to active use in modern times and their comeback didn’t last long, less than 4 years. Maybe submarines and their torpedoes are an extension of the ram?
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