Yes - stirrups would have made a difference, as well as proper saddles. Many nations had large and very effective cavalries - so, the argument that it’s easier to train a person to do 1 job - to shoot the arrows, or drive the chariot, or hold the shield and the spear - is not a very strong one. The war chariot may have been a weapon in its own right - big, scary, heavy - perfect to disrupt defense lines.
Misunderstandings on the battlefield were a very big deal. The battle of Philippi - between the armies of Anthony and Octavian against Cassius and Brutus - may have changed history. Had the latter won, maybe the Republic would have survived, and there would have been no emperors. What happened was that Cassius, under the mistaken impression that he was losing, committed suicide. They lost the battle, Octavian eventually ended up taking the name Augustus - and monarchies and autocracies became the normal way of running a country - for many more centuries.
Right now, on Netflix they have a show “Barbarians” - about German tribes who, under the leadership of a man called Arminius - a German who was raised and trained in Rome - ended up stopping Rome’s expansion in Germany. The show, of course, is far from being a documentary - but it’s interesting. Based on actual events. May have been the first serious defeat for Rome. |
