Greetings! I'm Shad, and in this video I'll be addressing a very important question: why castles?
Why were they built, and what purpose did they serve?
The answer to this question might seem rather obvious to some of you,
but there are some significant points that you might not have considered.
You see, in the videos I've been able to make about castles thus far,
I have really emphasized how effective they really were.
And the castles are just incredible.
A small number of defenders can effectively you know, defend a castle from a very large number of aggressors.
This has been done historically many times. Now, of course, castles did fall,
but it took time and it was difficult to take them.
Many of my viewers understand this and have come to me with a kind of obvious question as a result:
"Okay, if I'm going to basically commit suicide by sending my army against this castle, why bother even attacking the castle?
Why can't I just take all the land around and ignore it?"
Well, I get to answering that question but first I want to address why castles-- Why were they initially built and in so doing?
I will probably answer this other question as well. Castles are essentially a military base
But there's obviously a distinct difference between a castle and a military base
also a place of governing, okay at the center of government, and it is also a personal residence.
esidence another point of distinction which is common to most castles?
But some castles actually don't have this, you know, distinction.
Is that a castle is generally smaller than a full-blown military base like if you have a look at the Roman
as big as that and the reason for this is explained by the
Medieval governments the Standard medieval government was a feudal
Society it was a fractured government. There was no massive overarching state.
Overarching state.
hat about the king well the kings of the medieval period Were actually not as powerful as the great ancient?
Medieval kingdoms got far larger and became far more powerful, but still even in these early medieval kingdoms
They could field pretty impressively sized armies
But it wasn't in the same way that the older Empires
did there was no national requirement for military service or
State-run training camps instead local leaders were expected to recruit equip and train a certain number of soldiers
independently and this was because power was not as
Centralized the individual Kings did not have the resources to field huge armies by themselves
Nor did they have the resources to control and govern such large land areas
They weren't able to Establish large military bases with large
you know groups of mens and barracks and stuff in even
Locations throughout all the land that they claimed and the perfect sample of this and really the one that kind of set it off was
William the conqueror you see William and his normans came in and conquered, England
but the size of the conquering Force was much smaller than the population that they had just
conquered
So then how are they going to keep this rebellious population in check well William granted different areas of land to
Certain loyal servants, basically saying you are going to rule this smaller portion of land in my name
But I'm going to give you a certain level of autonomy
You just have to keep this
Populist in check tax them properly so I get the wealth that I rightly deserve and you'll get a portion of a tooth it was
a pretty good deal, but still how is this loyal servant to William going to keep a
Population in check that's essentially larger than the force that he has the answer is
Fortifications, not the massive huge fortifications of years passed up small fortifications
And I might as well make it where I live because I want to protect myself these people probably don't like me
We've just conquered them and they might want to kill me, so I might as well make my home fairly protected
And there's no point in doubling up the effort in making a separate fortifications by men
I'll let them live under the same roof or in fact
I might make separate kind of you know rooms or houses for these soldiers a barracks
But keep it in this
Inside the same wall now remember what castles
Do they enable a smaller force to be out of fight off a much larger force?
So if any of these you know populations that are rebellious is they want to rebel and Kick-out Visa
Servers well they're going to have a much harder time of it now because they have to take on these
Significant fortifications would they make fortifications of their own well?
They don't really have the resources and if they tried
Because there is already a force in the local area that has the weapons and armaments all the leaders can just come in and slaughter
Anyone as they're trying to build any rebellious fortifications you see this is how castles were initially used offensively
and you could kind of call it the
Genesis of the Medieval Castle they were the Modern Bailey style castles
we see images of them depicted on the bayeux tapestry and so castles came about due to the fraction state of
Medieval-Style governance it really is an ingenious strategy when you think about
castles of course evolved from this time as the medieval government grew in power so did the sizes of
Castles because outside of keeping a dispersed, but large population in check with smaller forces on resources
They are profoundly affected in warfare and fighting off any invaders
this is pretty much for the same reasons as to why they're so effective in up controlling a population because
Fortifications, enable at the defending Force or whoever is in these fortifications to be able to fight off a much larger force now
If the defenders have in equal size force as opposed to the attackers while adding fortifications on top of that almost
guarantees the Defenders victory and the attackers are going to have to resort to some different and even
Creative strategies to try and get these defenders outside of their fortifications
One strategy is of course sacking [the] land Roundabout and going squats to it
But there's a problem with this
it's
Temporary it does not achieve
what the invaders want which is to take the territory and you can't take the territory unless you deal with the
Defenders in that land outside of just full-blown battle well with army against army
warfare was also conducted very much through skirmishes and
Maneuvers skirmishes can be very effectively and that the primary purpose would be to
Inflict losses on an enemy whether that's in killing certain number of their soldiers or cutting off supply lines
You can win wars through skirmishes
Sending out a raiding party that just comes in the impact warfare hits the enemy and then runs off the issue is [they're] running off
You need to have a place of safety to get away from the enemy who would want to you know
respond to getting attacked if you have
Fortifications nearby you have a secure place to retreat to an aggressor someone who is trying to invade a land?
Won't have that advantage unless they in are able to build them
But that takes time
Therefore a really good tactic for a defender is to keep their armies behind in their fortifications and just harry the enemy
Nip it their heels constantly with these skirmishes
but of course that can only be done for so long because if the enemy [is] going
total scorched Earth on all the land that can create significant problems
It is still a temporary measure just raiding the lands nearby
It does not conquer that land and another problem with just going on a raiding spree
is that is not dealing with the
defenders the defending army is still there and a big issue with just sucking the land round about is that it gives the
defenders time to raise more Troops time is a
profoundly significant resource in Warfare
Especially if winter is approaching you don't want to wage a war in winter
So you only have so much time to raid and this is exactly what happened before the battle of agincourt King
Henry the fifth did not want to fight the French the French had a huge army okay?
And he did not expect to win that in general terms
You would not think such a smaller force would be a defeat such a larger one as what happened in the battle of agincourt
This is why Henry was trying to run away. Why was he trying to run away? Well?
he made some crucial mistakes when he besieged the port city of
Hafler in his initial assault it took too long
Nearly a whole month to take that city now the french could have tried [to] relieve that seeds
But they chose to raise a larger force which would guarantee than victory and in normal circumstances
It would have you can generally be
Confident a victory if you have a larger force, not always you know warfare can be a very risky thing in many circumstances
But Henry ran out of that valuable resource time the campaign season was almost over so he didn't [have] time to take any more
Territory so he went on a raiding spree, but the longer he took to do this raid the more time
He gave the French to Assemble a larger force
So large in fact that he realized
He made a mistake and he decided to just leg it and try and get out of there
But it was too late and the french were able to surround him normally that would have spelled his defeat
It was just the unique circumstances
Of the battle itself the battle of agincourt
Which gave the English victory and so just choosing to [go] on a massive
Raid through the land is not always the best choice because it gives the defenders time
Time is a very valuable
resource and one of the ways that defenders will use [that] resource is to Rally a
Larger Force to kick out these aggressors, so that is why?
Raiding and ignoring the defenders in their fortifications and castles and cities
Isn't a good idea it does not take territory
Which is the whole purpose of an invasion, and it doesn't deal with the defending army?
Therefore aside from giving protection
Security and a means to repel attackers castles and also medieval style fortifications such as on cities
grants this very significant resource time
conquering a city with
fortification takes a lot more time than a city with none and even then conquering that city or
castle is not a guarantee an attacker could destroy his entire army on the walls of
These defenses which is why the most common way they tried to take castles and cities was by starving the mouse
So instead of assaulting the walls and just surround them and play the waiting game
Warfare like this is very sophisticated,
and choosing to do what and when can spell victory and defeat.
nearby, you might be able to take your time and take a castle by starving it out.
But if there is a larger force nearby, you probably don't have time to starve them out, so that requires far more aggressive
nearby, you might be able to take your time and take a castle by starving it out.
But if there is a larger force nearby, you probably don't have time to starve them out, so that requires far more aggressive
tactics which is also a risk because you're going to lose men in doing so fortified castles and cities really were the linchpins of
Station your own troops to grant your soul security and defense while you control this newly conquered territory.
You just can't move in troops into a land and say" "this land is mine" and be so vulnerable.
and be so vulnerable.
esupply and just [residence] once your troops an army are able to live in this newly conquered
erritory in a secure enough way that it's not likely that your you know soldiers will just be
you can pretty much say you own the adjacent land.
in the medieval period
what purpose they served and the advantages they offered.
Thank you very much for watching. I hope to see you again, and until that time, farewell!