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         Dark Age Armies
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The Germanic tribes that overran the Roman Empire at the start of the Middle
Ages fought primarily on foot with axes and swords, while wearing little armor
other than perhaps helmets and shields. They were organized into war bands under
the leadership of a chief. They were fierce warriors but fought in undisciplined
mobs. The disciplined Roman legions had great success against the Germanic
tribes for centuries, in part because emotional armies are usually very fragile.
When the Roman legions declined in quality at the empire's end, however, the
Germanic tribes were able to push across the frontier.

Not all Germanic tribes fought on foot. Exceptions were the Goths, who had
adapted to horses when they settled previously north of the Black Sea. Both the
Visigoths and Ostrogoths learned about cavalry by being in contact with the
Eastern Roman Empire south of the Danube and barbarian horsemen from Asia. The
Eastern Roman armies put a greater emphasis on cavalry because of their
conflicts with mounted barbarians, the Parthians, and the Persians.

Following the fall of Rome, most fighting in Europe for the next few centuries
involved clashes of foot soldiers. One exception might have been the battles of
Britain's Arthur against the invading Saxons, although we have no evidence that
his success was due to using cavalry. Arthur may have halted Saxon progress in
Britain for 50 years, perhaps because of cavalry or the use of disciplined
troops. Another exception was the Byzantine army that recaptured North Africa
from the Vandals and almost restored Italy to Eastern Roman control in the sixth
century. The strength of the Byzantine army of this period was cavalry. The
Byzantines benefited also from both superior leadership and an understanding of
tactics that the barbarians lacked.

Fighting in these first centuries rarely involved groups that could be described
as armies. They were the same war bands as before, small by Byzantine or Asian
standards and employing limited tactics or strategy. The main military
activities were raids to obtain loot in the form of food, livestock, weapons,
and slaves. Aggressive tribes expanded by devastating the food production of
enemies, starving them out, and enslaving the survivors. Battles were mainly
clashes of war bands, fighting hand to hand with axes and swords. They fought as
mobs, not the disciplined formations typical of the Romans. They used shields
and helmets and wore some armor. Leather armor was common; only chieftains and
elites wore chain mail.

In the early eighth century, Visgothic Spain fell to the warriors of Islam, many
of whom fought as light cavalry. At the same time, nomadic Magyars from the
Hungarian plains increased their mounted raids on western Europe. In 732 a
Frankish infantry army was able to defeat a Muslim cavalry raid near Poitiers,
ending Muslim northward expansion. Charles Martel, warlord of the Franks, was
impressed by the Moorish cavalry and began mounting part of his army. This
conversion continued later in the century under the great king of the Franks,
Charlemagne. Frankish heavy cavalry was the genesis of the mounted knight that
came to typify medieval warfare.

Annually for 30 years, Charlemagne conducted military campaigns that extended
the size of his empire. The Frankish army consisted of both infantry and armored
cavalry, but the cavalry was his most valuable force and the part that got the
most notice. It could move quickly and strike hard against foes fighting mainly
on foot. Charlemagne's campaigns were economic raids, burning, looting, and
devastating enemies into submission. He fought very few battles against
organized opposition.

The Vikings fought exclusively on foot, except that it was their habit to gather
horses upon landing and use them to raid farther inland. Their raids began in
the late eighth century and ended in the eleventh century. The descendants of
Viking raiders that became the Normans of northwestern France adapted quickly to
the use of horses and became some of the most successful warriors of the late
Middle Ages.

In the early tenth century, the Germans began developing the use of cavalry
under Otto I, both as a rapid response force against Viking raids and to repel
mounted barbarian raids from the East.

By the end of the tenth century, heavy cavalry was an important component of
most European armies except in Anglo-Saxon England, Celtic lands (Ireland,
Wales, and Scotland), and Scandinavia.