Was there any instance when some commander decided to just kill the mercenaries after the job was done instead of paying them?
>>877941
Kill them with whom?
You only get mercaneries if your army sucks or is non existant?
If you liked them enough to use them the first time why would you not want to use them again? Killing them would be stupid.
Why hire mercenaries in the first place if you could kill them?
>*unzips katana*
>>877941
Byzantines tried that once, they didn't finish the job and the mercenary army went on pillaging Anatolia for a fair amount of time.
Can't remember the exact name of that company though.
>>877983
did Byzantines do anything right? Empire of fuck ups.
>>877941
more often they would kill them during the fight if they were seen as screwing up orders or deserting or other such treason and treachery
but that only happened when there were few mercs as opposed to the rest, and when they had no way to get the fuck out like proffesionals do in such situations
thing is if mercenaries are few they often have no real power or official position compared to the regular army, so they often get orders that suck and are sent into the most dangerous situations and generaly treated like disposable shit without a nametag
basicaly the worst thing that can happen in that sense is fighting somevhere where you officialy dont exist
then again sometimes the shere fact theres a need for mercenaries in the first place means they are of great importance and influence and high up the command structure and so on
>>877956
This, it's very hard to do it unless you have a large non-mercenary army of your own, and if you did why the fuck would you need mercenaries in the first place?
Maybe you could try killing their commander but it's more likely they will just kill you in retaliation
op.
Imagine that you are a commander.
Imagine that you need mercenaries due tovarious reason.
Imagine that you hire and fight with them.
Imagine that the war ends.
Imagine now that you kill them.
Imagine how you enter into another war, need to hire mercenaries but none knows since there's a 100% risk of dying.
Imagine how your foes still can hire mercenaries.
What the fuck do you do?
>>877983
It was the Catalan company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_Company
I'm pretty sure there was more than one Pope that told them to fuck off and refused to pay even after they completed their contract, not sure if this counts though.
>>877983
Classic byzantines
Why didn't the U.S army just kill off Blackwater contractors instead of paying them?
>>877989
>did Byzantines do anything right?
Rome lived on until 1460s thanks to them.
>>877941
A notable example of mercenaries finding themselves out of employment and backstabbed by the local ruler:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Thousand_(Greek_mercenaries)
this documentary movie is about the very same topic op
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089153/
>>877997
>no one displayed lack of foresight ever in history
>>877941
Maybe, but there are more instances where the mercenaries end up turning on their employers and killing them.
The modern kingdom of England is based upon that exact event happening.
>>878878
>The modern kingdom of England is based upon that exact event happening.
When they turned up against the rightful King and helped Henry Tudor?
>>877983
>Greeks not paying debts
what a suprize
>>877956
Not really, no. Bad idea. They might end up killing YOU. And now you can't hire mercenaries, because they'd fucking hear about it.
>>877983
every time romans used mercenaries something awful happened
During the Hundred Years War the French employed Genoese crossbowmen I believe who were deployed as skirmishers against the English. However after being deployed hastily by the French (without their pavise shields) they withdrew back to the French lines and the king ordered them slaughtered for cowardice.
So there's one example.
>>879080
>>877983
>Roger de Flor campaigned with his Company in Anatolia, defeating the Turks but also engaging in widespread violence and looting of the Byzantine inhabitants. By this point, the Catalans, who had recruited nearly 3000 Turkic horse into their ranks, were considered by the Byzantines to be little better than brigands and freebooters. The successes had inflated the already arrogant De Flor, leading him to entertain plans of establishing his own dominion in Anatolia.
>This put him at odds with the Byzantine Emperor, and the indiscipline of the Almogavars marked the end of Roger de Flor. On 30 April 1305, he was slain along with 300 cavalry and 1,000 infantry by the Alans, another group of foreign mercenaries at the service of the Emperor. Roger had been in Adrianopolis (modern Edirne) attending a banquet offered by Emperor Michael. The emperor later attacked Gallipoli attempting to conquer the city from the remnants of the Company under the command of Berenguer d'Entença who had arrived with 9 Catalan galleys. The attack was unsuccessful, but it largely decimated the Company. Berenguer d'Entença was captured by the Genoese shortly after, and later liberated. The Company had only 206 horsemen, 1,256 foot soldiers left and no clear leader when Emperor Michael attacked, trusting in his numerical superiority, only to be defeated in Battle of Apros in July 1305.
>The Company proceeded to devastate the Balkanic regions of Thrace and Macedonia for the next two years, including an attack on Thessalonica by land and sea, and raids against the monasteries on Mount Athos. Until recently no Catalans were allowed on the Athos peninsula by the Athonite monks. However in the past few years and following the payment of reparations by the Catalan government this situation has changed. Harassed by the Byzantine army under the general Chandrenos, the Catalans eventually left Macedonia, and in spring 1309 invaded Thessaly.
>>881131
Honestly they sound like orks and Normans. Also check out that butthurt by the monks
>>877941
carthage after first punic war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_%22The_Saw%22
allegedly just killed 50k mercs instead of paying them
