10-20-2006, 11:53 PM
A couple of comments:
Medieval armies were larger before the Black Death than afterwards; the largest medieval English army that was mustered was early in the Hundred Year's War, and had some 32,000 men. By the by, most armies of the High Middle Ages required some monetary compensation or straight wages for the soldiers, so payrolls had to be kept. Not that many survive, but some do - and paymasters are pretty fair bean counters. The numbers given by chroniclers can be unreliable, but in a number of cases the muster rolls can be found and reasonable estimates can be made.
Efficient logistics have to be separated from efficient organization of forces. Servants and hangers-on have to be fed almost as much as soldiers. If 100,000 mouths are involved, the food problem is pretty much the same if 20,000 are fighters or 80,000 are fighters. The Persians must have known something about logistics, or they never would have got as far as they did.
Medieval armies were larger before the Black Death than afterwards; the largest medieval English army that was mustered was early in the Hundred Year's War, and had some 32,000 men. By the by, most armies of the High Middle Ages required some monetary compensation or straight wages for the soldiers, so payrolls had to be kept. Not that many survive, but some do - and paymasters are pretty fair bean counters. The numbers given by chroniclers can be unreliable, but in a number of cases the muster rolls can be found and reasonable estimates can be made.
Efficient logistics have to be separated from efficient organization of forces. Servants and hangers-on have to be fed almost as much as soldiers. If 100,000 mouths are involved, the food problem is pretty much the same if 20,000 are fighters or 80,000 are fighters. The Persians must have known something about logistics, or they never would have got as far as they did.
Felix Wang
