Stalins_Moustachio

Stalins_Moustachio t1_j3ytmq2 wrote

Reply to Were muslim armies harder to maintain in the field? by DJacobAP

There are so many inaccurate statements and generalizations here, that I don't know where to start addressing them. A few of the main ones:

  • Grouping up the multitude of medieval Muslim kingdoms into one generalized category;

  • Arguing that Muslim armies had little to no strategy due to "Jihad", which contextually makes no sense here as a translation or tenant;

  • Muslim armies had no specialization;

  • Medieval Arabs were all "Tribes" who maintained a nomadic lifestyle;

  • Arab political figures only trusted outsiders as fighters.

And more. Please people, it's better not to answer than to make up history as we go!

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Stalins_Moustachio t1_j3yqwjp wrote

Reply to comment by Low_Ad487 in Were muslim armies harder to maintain in the field? by DJacobAP

Sorry, but this is definitely not true. There was an elite class of cavaliers, commonly referred to as Fursan, who were supplemented with the highly trained and specialized Mamlukes. They were no less specialized than their European counterparts Alongside that correction, grouping together various kingdoms, empires and states under the monolith term "Muslims" does very little to reflect the diverse array of strategies, units, and tactics found across the medieval Muslim world.

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Stalins_Moustachio t1_j2wds2o wrote

Reply to Bookclub and Sources Wednesday! by AutoModerator

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Just finished Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East , by Nikolaus Leo Overtoom, and I absolutely loved it!

Although the book leans more on the academic style of writing, I personally found that it flows quite well. I quite enjoyed the author's framing of Parthian history against the contexts of the Hellenistic world, geopolitics, and even political theory.

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Stalins_Moustachio t1_j2cw5ls wrote

Reply to comment by Ka3ket in Bookclub Wednesday! by AutoModerator

Hey there! A good starting point would be to check out Al Jabarti's Chronicle of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Should be on Amazon/orderable through your local book store.

As for the Battle of the Pyramids, a few corrections. The Mamluk army of Murad Bey did not fight with "sticks and knives." Rather, what gave the French a superior battlefield advantage was the effective use of square formations, artillery, and of course sueprior firearms. Further, the Mamluk army was still structured around an over-reliance on cavalry, which square formations counter perfectly. Adding to that, the Mamluk army was primarily made up of drafted peasantry, as opposed to Napoleon's well-trained and battle-hardened troops.

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Stalins_Moustachio t1_ivo8q35 wrote

Reply to Bookclub Wednesday! by AutoModerator

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Finally got around to finishing Fernando Bouza's The Iberian World: 1450–1820, and I highly recommend it. The book does an excellent job at providing an invaluable and detailed snapshot of Iberian socio-economic, political, colonial, and religious life during a critical period in global history!

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