How did guys march into battle knowing that death is a near certainty? I'm talking about the frontline guys in medieval times. Surely survival instinct kicks in at some point and you turn and run the other way? What was in their minds to hold the line?
>>75586205
>medieval times
>battle depicted is from the 17th century
>>75586205
Duty, courage, honour, pride. Look them up, or have them explained to you.
>>75586205
The vast majority of casualties in medieval battles were men cut down from behind as they tried to flee. Units would usually break and run (and be slaughtered) after losing no more than 10% of their strength.
Its not certain death.
Frontline troops actually fought for quite a while. It wasn't a movie tier slaughter like you see.
Most casualties would be inflicted on routing troops, The lines were usually TIGHT
Meaning if you're in the front, you're not really running anywhere, most combat was done by actual trained troops who knew to stay alive they had to stay in formation.
>>75586205
A sincere, strong bond between you and your countrymen. They eat from the same land, build the same cities, share the same language, faith, culture, beliefs. They're your brothers and your fathers.
with their legs
People are now starting to think that battles aren't just a big shoving match with the people at the front dying immediately. Why would you spend so much time/money training and arming your soldiers when the determining factor in winning is just pushing real hard? I think there had to have been a tag in tag out situation, anything else just seems retarded.
Tercio stronk, bring it on Frenchfags
>>75586205
They had a duty, and they knew it
>>75586205
Fighting in the front line of a formation, your chances of survival certainly aren't great, but if you were to turn and run you would 100% for sure be cut down as a deserter.
If you were a knight or a lord you'd probably be captured and ransomed rather than die in battle, people would go out of their way to keep you alive
if you were a peasant you probably weren't on the frontlines
>>75586205
mercenary pikemen had an informal agreement to not charge into each other right off the bat. they would charge until their pikes were inches away from eachothers faces and try to get close enough to kill each other without getting stabbed instantly
they also frequently had manlets run under the horizontal spears and slash peoples ankles
>>75587833
This.
It's also true for ancient warfare (think greek/roman). That's why order and discipline were so important in the Roman military and why the punishment for desertion was so brutal. If you can keep people calm and doing what they should be doing, you can beat basically any unorganized army (Gauls BTFO)
>>75586205
Religion
>>75586205
>food I assume their would be a rollcall after the battle is over to account for the dead, missing, and desertions.
>nowhere to go, if you just up and left your chances of dying of starvation are pretty high, or at best ending up homeless and lost in a foreign land.
