The ask a Historical Question thread

[AeroNinja]

That is quite nice. Thanks for the fast answer.

[McPero]

How did Hellenic states make 6 meters long pikes without sagging under own weight?

[Cara]

The biggest pikes (macedonian sarissa) weight 5-6 kilos so it's not that difficult for a man, they usually took it with both hands. For the particular situations of receiving a charge, so maybe hold when a horse was impaled, they stuck it in the ground with a bronze pike.

[William]

So I always see men flying in cavalry charges in Total War but how deadly were they to the horses? Would dozens of horses just break their legs and die upon charging into armored columns? Did these numbers change as Europe moved towards organized musketry? Did men really fly when hit by heavy cavalry?

[joer5835]

Charging headon into a line with pikes or braced bayonets was not done. That is just a deathwish.

[The Mighty McLovin]

Charging headon into a line with pikes or braced bayonets was not done. That is just a deathwish.

Yeah. Horses simply refuse to charge into a wall of bayonets.

[Cara]

Indeed. But your question was more about Line Infantry men flying when hit by horses. This is a bit exagerate in NTW but it was extremely violent. If you read the memories of Milhaud (famous cuirassier commander) or Ségur (hussar and  HQ aide) , you will figure that the combined force * of the cavalry charge crushed the first ranks. Cuirassier did not use their sabre but were charging very close to litteraly run over the line infantry. At Eylau for example, Larrey told us about the human slop resulting of the passage of nearly 10 000 cavalry men on 5 russian régiments.

* As you did maybe for your driving license, you can calculate the Newton force resulting of a 500 kg horse at 30 km/h. This cinetic energy will even increase with the combined charge of a regiment.

[AeroNinja]

nvm-

[AeroNinja]

What was Poland's role in the Napoleonic Wars? Like were they allied with France or something else?

[The Mighty McLovin]

What was Poland's role in the Napoleonic Wars? Like were they allied with France or something else?

Well, Poland was partitioned in 1795 between Prussia, Russia and Austria. Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and basically treated it as a source of resources and a buffer zone between them and Russia. Although it did act as this satellite state, they did hope to regain their former borders of that of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and be elevated to a Kingdom status (they were created as Duchy rather than a Kingdom and had a personal union with Saxony, meaning that Frederick Augustus I of Saxony ruled over them too).

When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Poles expected to be given back lands belonging to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the French Grand Armee contained a large number of Polish troops. Alas, when the French began their retreat the Warsaw Duchy was occupied by Russian troops in January 1813 and it was partitioned again in 1815 in the Congress of Vienna.

[AeroNinja]

Yeah that makes sense with Russia and all that. Did Poland give troops or was Napoleon like acting like a tyrant and threatening?

[The Mighty McLovin]

Many Polish people saw the French as liberating their country from Prussia, Russia and Austria who partitioned them. Even before the Duchy of Warsaw created, many Poles fled to France and enlisted in the Revolutionary French armies. Soon in the French ranks there were thousands of Poles in the army.

[AeroNinja]

Oh alright. Thanks for the fast answers. I was just curious about that the French had poles and Poland was also a faction on it's own etc..

Thanks again.

[Nick Lazanis]

How did Hellenic states make 6 meters long pikes without sagging under own weight?

some say that people then were exceptionally tall, but thats entirely unbased. So yeah what Carabino said

[Peppers]

Where there any sort of Polish groups or units the served germany in ww2? Also any names of said people?