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DJacobAP OP t1_j3yoo49 wrote

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

Weren't European forces the same too? Raising levies during wartime and disbanding afterwards?

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JonhaerysSnow t1_j3yp6kq wrote

Yeah but the European forces were basically trapped in Asia and couldn't afford to make it home unless the lord they came with also wanted to leave.

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DJacobAP OP t1_j3ypwiw wrote

Most of them either returned after the first crusade or settled in the Levant since their lords founded their own states or acquired lordships. Besides they were connected by the sea.

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JonhaerysSnow t1_j3ysvkk wrote

I think you need to do some more research on how the Crusades were actually organized and functioned. There's a BIG difference between "settling down afterwards" and leaving early.

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DJacobAP OP t1_j3yuujl wrote

Would you like to suggest any particular text? I know there is a difference but they weren't trapped. If the king of Jerusalem disbanded his levies they didn't go back to Europe

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MaximusDecimis t1_j3yp5df wrote

Not in their entirety. While some portion of the force would be disbanded, there were also full-time “soldiers”.

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Low_Ad487 t1_j3yp4gc wrote

Yeah, but the Muslims didn't have specialized units (i think) so it's only light cavalry and skirmishers + light sword/spear infantry. Unlike the fully tranined Swiss or French heavy knights for example. They kinda were all levies and every person had their own weapons and horses like back in the Roman Republic times.

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Stalins_Moustachio t1_j3yqwjp wrote

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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Low_Ad487 t1_j3ystm7 wrote

Mamluks were specialized indeed, my bad. Though they were also light cavalry units. Muslims did not have any kind of heavy units (as far as I know) until the ottomans came into the scene.

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DJacobAP OP t1_j3yplq7 wrote

That's a valid point. The Turks during this period would've definitely relied mostly on horse archers mounted on light horses while the European/Frankish forces would've had an elite core of knights (who were still in a very early stage of development)

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