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Unadvisable t1_j6cafp9 wrote

Reply to comment by rickwaller in Mysterious shipwreck identified as Dutch warship that sank after surprise attack in 1672 - identified as the Dutch warship Klein Hollandia by ArtOak

You’d be surprised at how many things people just assume is obvious and never wrote down.

We have no idea how ancient or even medieval armies fought at the front line because it was just obvious to everyone.

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DrChetManley t1_j6cgern wrote

Was just about to say this! I find particularly fascinating that we don't don't how hoplites fought - underhand or overhand grip?

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LeagueOfLegendsAcc t1_j6d3j8g wrote

It's probably not written down because there was no standard. Hoplites trained themselves if they even did that much. Underhand or overhand? Depends on what they were more comfortable with. What they did at the front line? Probably a bit of standoff fighting techniques combined with tactical repositioning, maybe with cavalry, something like what you see in the opening of the Bollywood film Panipat. Though obviously we have no proof and every battle was different but are you really about to run head first into a bunch of dudes with swords? Seems pretty obvious to me that no, not even in a battle would people be that stupid.

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KruppeTheWise t1_j6e06jf wrote

"sounds, probably, deduct" all make sense when trying to make the most of the info we have but they are just best guesses at the end of the day.

For all we know battles were intricate dances and those that got the moves wrong were the ones killed. It's not likely but there's a lot of established history we just take as fact when reality is it's probably 70% guesswork.

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LeagueOfLegendsAcc t1_j6e8znt wrote

Yea that all sounds nice but we can put ourselves in their shoes. It's not like some alien race that we have no knowledge of. These are people with very human qualities, and if it was obvious to them it should be obvious to us. This is a classic example of where you should apply Occam's razor.

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