effective

Say you had a Napoleonic-era regiment of infantry who'd run out of ammo or whose powder had been spoiled, and they therefore had to rely on just their bayonets to defend themselves against an enemy cavalry charge. Would they be able to do so, or would they get ridden down?

Worst example for defensive lines would be Maginot Line (1939-1940) probably despite all effort and capital expanded. But weren't any effective or strategically valuable ones like Wellington's Torres Vedras in Peninsular War (1810-11) , Hindenburg Line in Western Front (1916-1918) or Gustav Line...

I would like this thread to focus more on the fighting of the Cubans and the SADF, rather than UNITA/FNLA or the MPLA if possible. Overall which fighting force in Angola was more effective in their missions in the country? When the two nations found theirselves in combat with each other, did...

Right now I am looking on suprise attacks on fleets anchored in harbors mostly unprepared for battle. Which incident in military history was more effective -Spanish Armada (16th Century when Drake's fireships entered and destroyed Spanish fleets in Channel ports) - Battle of Cesme...

How effective were Chinese career civil servants who went through the imperial examinations in n governance vs. their chronic rivals, the eunuchs who were sometimes preferred by the emperors?

During World War 2 while German Navy surface fleet caused concern for Allies eventually it turned out they were not as much as a threat as U-Boat arm or Luftwaffe. Especially after Norwegian Campaign and loss of Bismark German admirals did not press attacks and instead preffered to sortie...

Am currently completely immersed in Total War: Shogun 2. So I was looking at the armor of the general's bodyguards, and I noticed an interesting variation, some have long plates arranged in a lamellar structure, while some seem to be wearing what looks to be scale which I understand to be much...

In military affairs it has been practised widely,up to and including WW2.. Its now as I understand prohibited Was it effective ? If yes, why was it stopped ? If no, why was it practised regularly by most military powers in one shape or another ? In its milder form it is practised by various...

Are Protests the Most Effective Method to Bring About Change in Society? Here are articles from differing perspectives on this topic: (A) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/is-there-any-point-to-protesting (B)...

The first three were basically guerrillas: Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan and John Mosby. All of them were highly successful with hit and run tactics against much larger Union forces. The fourth was Jubal Early, an infantry/cavalry general who seemed to do his best when outnumbered...

I’m helping someone who has received little to no useful input on this from just about every enthusiast forum he’s been on (his first mistake, I know). At this point he wants to give up on the project, which I keep urging him not to. He wants to make a reproduction Shikomizue (not a...

(I meant "Sword/Shield", sorry!) I've heard a lot of things about spears being used with shields. I've heard that it's only good in formation with multiple people, and unwieldy compared to sword and shield because heavy spears 7-8 feet long would have to be held in the middle, giving the user...

What made Arabs so effective on field and able to defeat larger and more old empires from the eastern Romans to the Persians, the Germans and far beyond?

A lot of what I write in this post about trench warfare applied also during World War 1 and other wars before and after World War 1. For the purposes of this post, I am only going into trench warfare during the Civil War since that is all that this post is about. During the American Civil War...

The tripartite pact seems more symbolic than anything substantial like a military alliance, even if that was the intention. Germany commited very few troops to North Africa, the Africa Korps was a fraction of their strength, Italy sent very few to Russia and Japan had no involvement during the...

I wonder which intelligence operation was most effective and most course changing during World War 2 - Soviet spy networks in Europe (Red Orchestra and Lucy networks ) and Japan (Richard Sorge) : Resulted with forewarning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 which Stalin dismissed or ignored...

He had several defeats. He wasn't at Saratoga or the victories by Greene and Morgan in the south. Yorktown was Rochambeau's idea.

During the ancient time many cultures were known by their war capacity, and also many have epic battles where they defeated foes in extremely unfavorable situations, something that raised their armies and warriors to a legendary status. It would not be fair somehow, try to compare warriors from...

what were the main military innovations, tactics that Alexander brought to the Macedonian army?

This "class" of tyrants rule responsibly well but can be known for extremely cruel behaviours. Some may put Ivan IV, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di into this class. While it was undeniable that Zhu Di was way more capable than his nephew Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Di was also cruel beyond imagination. Killings...