Bronze Age War Chariots

Osprey New Vanguard #119

by Nic Fields, Brian Delf (Illustrator)

Chariots, the first mobile fighting vehicle, seem to have originated in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. The highly mobile two-wheeled war chariot, carrying a driver and an archer armed with a short composite bow, revolutionized military tactics after 1700 BC. This expensive weapon spread throughout the Middle East and is thought to have reached Egypt with the conquering Hyksos. It spread into Asia Minor, Greece, and was known in Northern Europe by 1500 BC. This book covers the evolution of the war chariot throughout the Bronze Age, detailing its design, development and combat history - in particular its fundamental involvement at the battle of Qadesh.

Genres: History, Military History, Ancient

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2006

About the author

Dr Nic Fields started his career as a biochemist before joining the Royal Marines. Having left the Navy, he went back to University and completed a BA and PhD in Ancient History at the University of Newcastle. He was Assistant Director at the British School of Archaeology, Athens, and is now a lecturer in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Bronze Age War Chariots" was an excellent companion to the other books I recently read on the ancient middle east. Covered were the chariots used by the Sumerians, Egyptians, Hittites, and the Mycenaeans. To quote the author, "The realization of the wheel's formidable potential and the eventual domestication of the horse led to the most important new weapon of the Bronze Age, the war chariot." That pretty much sums it up.

Construction as well as tactics were covered. Interestingly, the first ones, referred to as 'battlewagons' as used by the Sumerians were slow bulky four wheel wagons pulled by donkeys. The crew consisted of a driver and a fighter armed with a thrusting spear. Later chariots and tactics changed with horses pulling two wheeled chariots containing a two or three man crew. One man controlled the horses, one carried a shield, and the fighter wore some armor and used his spear like a medieval knight on horseback used his lance. The Egyptians favored small, highly maneuverable two man chariots where the fighter was armed with a powerful bow and heavy arrows. Still later tactics changed again where chariots became battlefield taxis that the fighting men dismounted from to fight on foot, not much different from modern armored personnel carriers. References were made to the Trojan War and "The Iliad."

Building a chariot force and maintaining it was expensive. Cavalry were cheaper once horses were bred to carry armed men. Chariots then went the way of battleships with the coming of airpower.

[Paul A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fields covers the most famous iterations of Bronze Age chariotry, namely the Sumerian war carts and the Egyptian, Hittite, and Mycenaean chariots. He goes into detail regarding the construction and use of each type, including some theorizing on how actual chariot clashes might have looked, which was extremely interesting to read about. Osprey books sometime suffer from a lack of synthesis concerning the facts that they often end up reciting, but this was a better take on the formula, offering something more than just what the weapons were made of.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guide provided some good basic information on the history of the horse as relates to warfare, on the various designs of Bronze Age chariots (but only in the West), and on key elements of representation. What it doesn't help with, is how they were actually employed in battle, particularly when not in a chariot-on-chariot melee. I've noted that most discussions of chariots in battle tend to be very vague, and neglect to mention that chariots will not run down a bristling line of spears.

[William Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet, this book is a pleasant overview of the types of war chariots used in Sumer, Ancient Egypt, the Hittite Empire and Mycenaean Greece. Though far from exhaustive, this book effectively describes the vehicles and their most probable operations in battle. This book is an easily-read introduction to a fascinating subject.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting bits but rather basic.