Even in the 20th century, the size of armies was of great, sometimes decisive importance for the outcome of a war. It was even more important in ancient times, when there were no weapons of mass destruction or even firearms. In the age of swords and bows the number of warriors predetermined victories and defeats. For example, no one in Europe could stand against the Vikings for a long time. This is not surprising, because only one raid on Britain in 851 AD involved 350 drakkarov, from which the shore landed 20 thousand Scandinavian warriors. While the English army, even in the 14th century, had fewer than 10,000 soldiers.
It was the same with the Mongols who attacked Russia. Khan Batu (aka Batu) took with him about 70,000 horsemen. At that time Russia was a "patchwork quilt" of relatively small principalities, any combat-ready troops in which was mounted troops of the prince, rarely exceeding a thousand men. Even in 1445 the army of Vasili II, joined by the troops of his vassals, Mikhail of Verei, Vasilii of Serpukhov, Ivan of Mozhaisk, and the detachment of Alexei Ignatyevich, the voivode of Vladimir, had about fifteen hundred horsemen, and was defeated by the Tatar army, the total number of which was 3.500 men.
However at antique historians armies the huge number is mentioned. Paul Deacon wrote that Attila brought with him to the West 700 thousand Huns.
Living two centuries earlier Jordanes was more modest in his estimates, his army of the Huns and other peoples, led by Attila, was estimated at half a million soldiers. The British rebels of Boudicca, the Gauls of Vercingetorigus, and the Germans in the Teutoburg Forest fought armies of many hundreds of thousands against the Roman legions. Alas, in all these cases it is impossible to determine the real number of barbarians, and Roman commanders estimated it at best by eye, if not by hearsay.
The more accurate figures are given in the works of ancient historians, the more dubious they are. The most meticulous is the calculation of the number of Persians who attacked Greece by the "father of history," Herodotus. When he wrote his works, eyewitnesses of the great campaign of King Xerxes against the united forces of the Greeks were still alive. According to Herodotus, Xerxes brought with him 1,700,000 infantrymen, 80,000 horsemen, 517,600 sailors (the total number of combat and transport Persian fleets). Together with the Persians came their allies: 300,000 Macedonians and Thracians, 20,000 Libyans and Arabs. The marching brothels of the Persians alone employed 7,363 women workers.
In reality, such a gigantic army would have been impossible for the ancient Greeks to resist. Their total numbers (including elders, women and children) at the time were barely 4 million, with only half of the polis opposing the Persian invasion. Historians have concluded that the Persian Empire could theoretically raise an army of 150,000 men, but only for a short time. According to a prominent 19th century military theorist H. Delbrück, Xerxes' army numbered about 80,000 soldiers.
Such ancient states as Egypt, China and India, in principle, could recruit armies in larger numbers. According to the testimony of the ancient Greek traveler Megasphenes, the army of the Indian king Ashoka consisted of 600 thousand infantrymen, 30 thousand horsemen, 8 thousand chariots and 9 thousand fighting elephants. Unfortunately, the ancient Greeks were very prone to exaggeration. What was the real number of troops of this legendary ruler - we don't know.
Even larger was the army of China's unifier, Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. He managed to conscript about a million men, but that was not the size of the army as such. So many peasants were gathered for one specific task: the construction of the Great Wall of China. It is difficult to say how many soldiers there were in combat units, but it is unlikely to be more than 150,000. However, even such an army proved to be unaffordable for the country's economy, which was the cause of the turmoil that began immediately after the death of this ruler
A picture of the Roman army on the Trajan's column, 113 A
The most numerous army of antiquity, of which reliable information has survived, can be considered the Roman era of the flourishing of the Empire, that is, in the reign of Trajan. He brought the number of permanent legions to 30. Taking into account auxiliaries (auxiliary troops), which recruited allies of Rome, as well as the navy, in the early II century AD the Roman army was 400 thousand people. Only the most powerful empire of that era could afford such a huge army
You must be logged in to post a comment.