Forces of the Hanseatic League 13th-15th Centuries, David Nicolle

Forces of the Hanseatic League 13th-15th Centuries, David Nicolle

Men at Arms 494

The Hanseatic League was a network of independent cities linked by trade. Although it is best known as a maritime power, with bases around the Baltic coast, it also had inland members, and members spread out from Westphalia to Prussia and Livonia.

This book has to cover a lot of ground, both literally and figuratively. The different parts of the Hanseatic League were located in very different areas, from the settled trading cities of the west to the frontier settlements in the east. In time the book covers three centuries of significant change in European warfare, including the revival of infantry after a period of cavalry domination, and the appearance and spread of gunpowder weapons. The book covers land and naval warfare, both of which were important to the league. Finally the Hanseatic League itself is a fairly unfamiliar body, and so part of the text has to be taken up with a history and description of the organisation itself.

Nicolle does a good job of covering all of these varied topics in the tiny space available to him. There is little or no wasted text, and each section provides a good amount of information. Inevitably the author inevitably has to smooth over any controversies or historical debates, but there is enough here to give a good idea of the military resources available to the Hanseatic League during its most powerful period, and how those forces were used, both in small-scale warfare against neighbouring aristocrats or pirates and in larger-scale conflicts with the Danes, Dutch or English. This is a good introduction to this vast topic.

Chapters
Historical Background
Chronology
Evolution of the Hanseatic League
Land Warfare, c.1250-c.1425
Maritime Warfare
Siege Warfare and Firearms
The 15th Century: The Costs of Competition
Further Reading

Author: David Nicolle
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 48
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2014


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