I personally have a deep affection for historical simulation games. From the Three Kingdoms chronicle of the Glorious Company and Nobunaga Nobunaga to the Total War series, to the Swedish P Society's Shimon. A well-made history simulation game can provide a lot of information about its background era.
The example given today comes from the medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms. This is the most glorious generation of the Total War series, set in the Middle East during the Crusader era of the twelfth century.
The First Crusade was a great success, and four Crusader states were born in the Near East along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean: the Kingdom of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. These four crusading states will be here against muslims for hundreds of years.
From top to bottom were the kingdom of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the kingdom of Tripoli, and the kingdom of Jerusalem
Frankish Axemen / Turkopoles / Sodeer Archers
Frank is a collective term and has nothing directly to do with France. During the Crusade era, Europeans collectively referred to all the Muslims they saw as Saracens (also translated as Saracens). In fact, the Saracens include Arabs, Egyptians, Kurds, Turks, Algerians and many others. Similarly, Muslims could not distinguish between Germany, France, England or Italy, and they referred to all Europeans collectively as Franks.
The Game's Frankish Axemen, Turkish Hussars, and Sodir Archers are the cheap base units of the Crusader states
The Frankish Axeman was the creation of the game, and in reality the Crusaders had a large number of people who tried to gain fame and fortune in addition to the European nobles and knights. These people did not have the money to buy protective armor and warhorses, so most of them had to participate in battles on foot, and the tomahawk was the traditional main weapon of Western Europe, and the combination of the two was the Frankish axe soldier in the game. They are people who have left no names in history, and they are also the dust of the big times.
The Turkish Hussars refer to Tukopolli ("Turcopole", which means "Son of the Turks" in Greek). Tukopoli is a professional mercenary. The Europeans thought they were descendants of the Turkic people, so they were given the name. In fact, Tukopolli has no fixed race, it is more like a profession. There are always some people who are desperate, and it is better to bring their own horses to join the army to earn a share of the money for their lives. Tukopolli was not only loyal to the Crusader side, but the Arabs could also pay to hire them to fight.
Tukpolli was an important part of the Crusades. In several major battles recorded in history, the Crusader army of seventeen thousand men and the heavily armored knights were only nearly a thousand. Tukopolli had nearly four thousand men, scouts, harassers, raiders who attacked each other's supplies, or pursuers who won the battle, but rarely used for frontal charge. The frontal charge was the work of the Western European noble knights and the knights of the knights.
Tukopolli's fate was generally miserable, as mercenaries fighting for money, the noble lords looked down on them, and often completed some tasks with high mortality rates. After the famous Battle of Harding, the legendary Arab general Saladin captured nearly four thousand Tukopolli and a large number of European nobles. Nobles could pay a ransom to gain their freedom. Four thousand Tukopolli were considered to be the ones who saw the money, the unbelievers or apostates, and all of them were beheaded.
Nevertheless, every time the Holy Land was threatened, the Crusader states were very nervous about their forces far abroad. Much of the money given to the Holy See by the great nobles of Western Europe was transferred to the Crusader states to temporarily employ large numbers of Tukoboli warriors for war.
Sodir Archer is a transliteration. Sodeer also means mercenary.
In the front is the heavily armored noble knights of the Principality of Antioch, in the middle are the ordinary Norman Crusader knights with general equipment, and at the end are the local Tukopoli
Maronites of Lebanon
Let us not forget that Christianity was born in the Near East, where many ancient religious denominations have been handed down. Maronites (full name Maronites) is currently a branch of the Catholic Church of Eastern Christianity, founded in the early 5th century by the Syrian priest St. Maron. There are about 4 million Maronites in the world today, of whom about 1 million are lebanese, or a quarter of the country's population. Under Lebanon's constitution, the presidency must be Christian, so most of Lebanon's presidents have been almost exclusively Maronites.
Malone Archers
After the Arab conquest of the Near East, they allowed these Christians to retain their faith, but with a special tax. After the Crusaders reached the Near East, marlonists christians joined the crusades. But the Crusaders did not fully trust the natives. They could not wear the same clothing and markings as the Franks from Europe. The Marons are mostly bearded, which is not reflected in the game.
The fighting habits of Maronite Christians were closer to those of the Arabs. In Europe, knights did not learn archery, so the local Maronites, hired or conscripted by the Crusaders, fought mainly as archers.
Templar Confrere Knights / Marshall of the Templars
The Knights were a special product of the Crusader era, and they were fanatical warriors who gave up all worldly possessions and positions to devote themselves to the cause of jihad. They were the elite spearheads of the crusader state army. But on the other side of the Knights was the scarcity of men, with only three or five hundred men fighting in most battles.
The Templar charge, the Western European tactic most feared by the Arabs, had to be weakened by constant harassment
In order to solve the problem of too few knights, the honorary knighthood system came into being.
When a European nobleman embarks on a pilgrimage, he can volunteer to become an honorary knight of the Order. Full members of the Order were required to remain celibate, abstinent, and not own private property, while knights of honor made only temporary vows to return to normal life after leaving the Holy Land. However, half of the personal property must be donated after death. Similarly, the Knight of Honor could not participate in the administration of the Order, but was merely an ordinary soldier in battle.
In fact, the number of knights also included attendants, cooks, etc. who served the knights, as well as a large number of professional financial personnel throughout Europe to dot the property donated by the nobles to the Order. As a result, only about one in ten of the Knights were true warriors. At its peak, the Knights Templar had about 20,000 members throughout Europe, and it can be seen that there were about 1,000 to 2,000 warriors in the Holy Land.
The Templar Grand Marshal's Guard is an elite squad that follows the Templar Commander and surpasses the Temp Priesthood Honorary Knights.
Constable of Jerusalem
The kingdom's strongest secular army
Most of the founders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem came from the French nobility, who established a feudal state similar to France.
The court magistrate was the top official in the system, in charge of the kingdom's justice and leading the army. Military priority is higher than that of the Grand Marshal.
As a result, the Palace Master's Guard is one of the most numerically valuable units in the game.
Armenians of Cilicia
Similar to the Marlonites, Armenia has been a predominantly Christian state since roman times. After the crusader state, the Kingdom of Armenia has been a staunch ally of the crusader state. They also provided a large number of archers and light infantry.
Canons of the Holy Sepulcher
Only two special units can be built in the game, which is very powerful but not very practical
The so-called "Holy Sepulchre" refers to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem today, which is not only the place where Jesus was killed, buried and resurrected, but also recognized by all Christian denominations.
Historically, after the Crusaders successfully established the kingdom of Jerusalem, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected king. But he refused to claim the throne because he could not be crowned in such a sacred land, so he changed his name to "Guardian of the Holy Sepulchri" (Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri).
The Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre in the game are an extremely elite heavy infantry unit. Probably really the elite guards who showed the door to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Not only did it limit the number of recruits, but it also limited the number of recruits to Jerusalem and Antioch, so although the value was extremely high, it was not very practical.
Today's Church of the Holy Sepulchre is divided among the various denominations of Christianity. Every candle and even every stone in the church was registered and belonged to the various denominations
Through these branches of the army, it is not difficult to see that the combat effectiveness of the Crusader troops basically comes from the powerful heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. The heavy cavalry charge is like today's main battle tank, which is difficult for ordinary troops to resist.
Arab militarists such as Saladin would also limit their movements by restricting the terrain or choosing weather or seasons that were unfavorable to the Crusaders when fighting with the Crusaders. At the Battle of Harding, where the Knights Templar was almost completely annihilated, the knights marched for days in the desert without water to drink, exhausted before the Arabs attacked. This can also be seen in the characteristics of Eastern military wisdom.